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ON 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 



HOMILIES 



ON 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS 



BEING 



A DETAILED HISTORY, 

\ND FAMILIAR EXPLICATION, OF THE VIRTUES 

OF THAT HOLY SERVANT OF GOD. 



fin a JerrUs ot JJnstructums, 

ADAPTED TO THE GENERALITY OF CHRISTIANS LIVING IN 
THE WORLD. 



By the Rev. FRANCIS MARTYN. 



Permissu Superiorum. 



Printed by Thomas Wilson and Sons, High-Ousegate, 

FOR THE AUTHOR. 

Sold by Longman & Co., Keating & Co., Booker, and 

ANDREWS, London ; Ferral & Co, Birmingham ; Simpson, Wolverhampton ; 

Fitzpatrick & Son, Dublin ; J. & G, Todd, York ; 

and all other Booksellers. 



1817, 







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approbation* 

Having been appointed by the Rt. Rev. V. A. of the 
Midland District, to read and examine the following 
Work, entitled " Homilies on the Book of Tobias," I 
feel a pleasure in certifying, that so far from finding 
any thing in the said Work contrary to sound Faith 
or Morals, I have been edified with the perusal of it ; 
and doubt not that it will be a means of promoting 
the interests of religion and virtue, and answer the ends 
which the Author professes in his Preface. 

(Signed) JOSEPH BOWDON, Ap. Miss, 

Sedgley Park, 
April 28, 1817. 



A3 



TO 



FRANCIS MIDDELTON, Esq. 

DEAR SIR, 

In dedicating to you the following Work, 
which I hope will tend to promote the cause 
of virtue, my motive is, to express the sin- 
cere regard I entertain for you, and the 
value I set upon your friendship. May- 
Heaven confirm in you the work which it 
has begun, and enable you to persevere with 
fidelity in the path of virtue. 

I remain, 
Dear Sir, 

Yours sincerely, 
Francis Martyn 

St. Thomas's, May 27, 1817. 



preface- 



There is hardly a subject on which the notions 
of the world are more erroneous, more at variance 
with the doctrine of the gospel, than the nature 
of sanctity, and the means of attaining to it. 
Numbers are deterred from even attempting to 
attain to it, because the world inculcates to it's 
deluded followers, that to be a Saint it is neces- 
sary to retire from all the accustomed walks of 
life, and bid adieu to every earthly comfort and 
enjoyment. Hence sanctity is considered by too 
many, as the portion of those only who by their 
profession have renounced the world and con- 
secrated their days to religious retirement. But 
it is not from the maxims of the world, or the 
lives of it's followers, that a Christian will form 
his ideas of that holiness and sanctity of life to 
which he is called. Happily for us, sanctity is 

A4 



VU1 PREFACE. 

not confined to any one state of life, but is attain- 
able in all states. That divine Being who is 
the common Father of the great family of man- 
kind, has allotted different stations to his children, 
that each one, by fulfilling with fidelity the re- 
spective duties which his station brings along 
with it, may merit the favour of his Creator 
and tender Parent in this life, and deserve to 
receive from the hand of his bounty, a crown 
of eternal glory in the life to come. 

It is true that some of our fellow-creatures 
who are acknowledged Saints, inspired by God 
with an utter contempt of all earthly things, have 
actually renounced the world and its enjoyments, 
have immured themselves in lonesome retirement, 
and devoting their days to the practice of con- 
stant and rigorous penance, have presented their 
bodies a living sacrifice to the Almighty. That 
this tlieir sacrifice, that these their austerities and 
self-denials were pleasing before God and ac- 
ceptable in his sight, is clear from the extra- 
ordinary graces and miraculous gifts conferred 



PREFACE. IX 

upon them. Yet, this part of the conduct of 
certain eminent servants of the Most High, who 
have trampled the world under their feet, and 
have shewn the sublimity of perfection to which 
human nature is capable of attaining by the aid 
of divine grace, is not what we are any where 
commanded to imitate as necessary to make us 
Saints. 

How many holy persons at this time adorn 
and edify the Church of God by their holiness 
and sanctity of manners, whose lives present 
nothing extraordinary or uncommon, except the 
strict regularity with which they perform the 
exercises of religion, and the duties of their call- 
ing ? For this, after all, is the most extraordinarv 
circumstance in the lives of the Saints in general 
that their example is followed by so few Christians, 
while all are capable of copying it, having the 
same graces to assist them, and the same pro-' 
mised reward to encourage them. Christian 
holiness and it's attendant blessings, belong not 
to any one state of life, or anv one class of 



X PREFACE. 

mankind exclusively, but are open to all, in 
every station, who sincerely aim at the at- 
taining of them. This truth is confirmed by 
the lives of the faithful servants of God, both 
in the Sacred Writings, and in the history of the 
Church. 

Nothing, therefore, appears better calculated to 
remove the prejudices, and correct the false notions 
of the world respecting sanctity, notions adopted 
by too many who profess themselves Christians, 
than to unfold to public view the edifying ex- 
amples of those who have adorned the common 
paths of life by their amiable virtues, and sanc- 
tified themselves by the practice of perfection. 
With this view I conceived the plan of detailing 
to the dear flock entrusted to my care, the his- 
tory of the virtuous Tobias and his son, as re- 
corded in the sacred volumes. To myself, this 
portion of holy Scripture has ever appeared one 
of the most interesting and instructive books 
of the inspired writings. It presents to us, in 
the virtues of those holy persons, the most edify- 



PREFACE. XI 

ing models of fidelity in the discharge of the 
ordinary duties of mankind. The duties at- 
tached to the condition of married persons, pa- 
rents, and masters of families, are of all others 
the most important, and those on which the 
welfare of the greater part of mankind depends. 
Vice owes it's universal spread to that ignorance 
and that neglect of these obligations which 
reign in the world. How few parents seem 
sensible of the duties attached to their con- 
dition ! How few are aware of the importance 
^)f them ! How many Christians are seen strictly 
attentive to certain general duties, but at 
the same time ignorant and neglectful of the 
particular obligations belonging to their re- 
spective states of life! The conviction which 
I felt in my own mind of the truth of these 
observations, was another motive which led me 
to adopt the plan of the following Work. I was 
desirous of removing from my own flock what 
appeared to me the cause of so lamentable a 
deficiency of true piety among Christians, by 
making them better acquainted with their ordi- 



Xll PREFACE. 

nary, though most important duties, and stimula- 
ting them to a diligent fulfilment of them. To 
accomplish these desired objects, nothing seemed 
better adapted than to unfold the history of 
Tobias, which affords so many excellent lessons 
of virtue, suited to all ranks of life, enforced by 
the edifying example of that faithful servant of 
God, and of the other holy persons mentioned 
in his story. We behold in Tobias a model of 
virtue for every period of life ; we see him 
cautiously shunning in his youth the snares of 
vice, and the company of the vicious, increasing 
in virtue as he advances in years; ever steady 
in the observance of his religious duties ; cherish- 
ing in his mind a constant recollection of the 
presence of God; making the divine will the 
end of all his actions ; bowing with humble re- 
signation to all the appointments of Providence ; 
attentive to the religious instruction of his child ; 
anxious that all his family should serve God in 
sincerity and truth ; full of charity for every 
neighbour ; exposing himself to the greatest dan- 
gers to fulfil the duties of brotherly love ; revered 



PKEFACE. Xiii 

and beloved by all who knew him ; reaping, even 
in this life, the fruits of his piety, in the favour 
and protection of heaven ; and quitting this earth- 
ly scene of existence full of merit, hope, and 

W 

The young Tobias, like his father, shews us 
a constant picture of virtue in it's most amiable 
and inviting form ; it lets us into some of the 
rftost adrnirable secrets of God's providence ; and 
contains the most instructive patterns and lessons 
for young persons about to enter into, or already 
engaged in the married state. 

It now remains for me to say a few words on 
the form in which the following instructions make 
tji§ir appearance. They are entitled, Homilies* 
or familiar instructions, having been delivered 
as a series of familiar discourses to my own flock. 
This method seemed to me the best adapted to 
convey the instructions to the minds of my 
hearers, being in itself the most plain and sin> 
pte f and at the same time affording me m op. 



XIV PREFACE. 

portunity of dilating more at length than a 
regular sermon would have permitted, on those 
points which I thought would be most useful 
to my flock. As the spiritual improvement of 
those entrusted to my care was the object of 
these Homilies, the style will perhaps be found 
less adapted to the subjects that are treated, than 
to the condition of the persons to whom they 
were addressed. The greater part of my flock, 
and the greater part of our congregations in 
general, are persons whose minds have received 
little or no cultivation, and to whom, therefore, 
the truths of salvation cannot be delivered in 
too plain and intelligible a form. Where these 
instructions have not produced the desired fruit, 
I am too sensible of my own unworthiness to 
ascribe the failure to any other cause. In several 
members of my flock, the good effects of these 
discourses have been visible in their better ac- 
quaintance with their most important duties, and 
more diligent attention to the discharge of them. 
For this blessing, both they and I are indebted 
to the unbounded goodness of that heavenly 



PREFACE. XV 

Husbandman, who alone, when his servants have 
planted and watered, can give the increase, and 
who lets not the unworthiness of his workmen 
prevent his giving his blessing where, in the de- 
crees of his mercy, he designs to bestow it. To 
him be glory for ever and ever, Amen. 



F. M. 

St. Thomas's, Bbxrvick, 
Marsh 13, 1817. 



HOMILIES 



ON 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 



FIRST HOMILY. 

JL HE Book of Tobias takes it's name from 
the holy servant of God whose life and extraor- 
dinary virtues it records. Though the Jews did 
not admit the history of Tobias into what is 
termed the canon, or acknowledged collection, of 
inspired writings, yet by the Catholic Church, 
which received the canon of Scriptures, not from 
the Jews, but from the Apostles of Christ, this 
Book has always been acknowledged to be one 
of the canonical Books of Scripture. Indeed we 
find it frequently referred to as a part of the 
Bible in the writings of the earliest Fathers of 
the Church. Whoever reads with any degree of* 
attention the Book of Tobias, must be convinced 
that there is no portion of the Old Testament 
which abounds with more excellent lessons of mo- 
rality, or which is better calculated to inspire a 
love of virtue, and train the heart to the practice 
of religion. To open to you, dear Christians, the 

B 



2 HOMILIES ON 

sublime moral precepts which the Book of Tobias 
inculcates, and at the same time to make you 
acquainted with the history of that holy man 
whose virtues it records, and whose example pre- 
sents a perfect pattern of the true servant of God, 
is the design of the following familiar discourses. 
May the God of all mercy grant that the instruc- 
tions which they convey, may tend to your im- 
provement both in the knowledge and practice of 
your Christian duties ! 

Chap I. vcr. 1. Tobias was of the tribe and city of Neplithali 

2. When he- was made captive in the days of Salmanasar, 
king of the Assyrians, even in his captivity he forsook not 

the way of truth 3. But every day gave all he could 

get to his brethren, his fellow-captives, that were of his 

kindred 4. And when he was younger than any of the 

tribe of Nephthali, yet did he no childish thing in his work. 

5. Moreover when all went to the golden calves, which 

Jeroboam king of Israel had made, he alone fled the company 

of all, 6. and went to Jerusalem to the temple of the 

Lord, and there adored the Lord God of Israel, offering 

faithfully ail his first-fruits, and his tithes, 7. so that 

in the third ye^r he gave all his tithes to the proselytes 

and strangers. 8. These, and such like things, did he 

observe when but a boy, according to the law of God. 

Suck is the short, but highly instructive ac- 
count, dear Christians, which the Holy Scrip- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 3 

ture gives of the youth of Tobias ; a youth spent 
in the practice of virtue, hi the faithful discharge 
of every moral duty, and the diligent observance 
of the law of God. Piety is in every age accep- 
table to God, and the source of grace and blessing 
to him whose heart obeys it's dictates and follows 
it's maxims. But in the season of youth a vir- 
tuous conduct is peculiarly pleasing to the Al- 
mighty, since it consecrates to him the first-fruits 
of a being received from him, and destined to 
promote his glory. At the moment in which we 
arrive at the use of reason, it becomes an indis- 
pensable obligation to each of us, to dedicate our 
being, with it's faculties and powers, to the ser- 
vice of our Creator, by directing all our actions 
to the glory of God, and performing them with a 
pure intention of pleasing him, and of promoting 
the great end of our existence — our union with 
God in a future state. Happy are they who 
faithfully comply with this important obligation ! 
Happy those Christian parents who both by- 
word and example are careful to instil this grand 
principle of religion into the tender minds of 
their children, teaching them to make, at least 
at their morning devotions, this daily consecra- 
tion of their actions to the Supreme Being. This 
pure intention is the essence of Christian piety. 
Without it the most heroic outward acts of 

B2 



4s- HOMILIES ON 

virtue have no claim to a supernatural reward ; 
with it, the most trifling employments become 
virtues, are sanctified and rendered meritorious 
of an eternal crown. 

So pleasing is early piety in the sight of God, 
that he showers down upon those who make 
him tliis acceptable offering, such abundant stores 
of grace as enable them to persevere to the end 
of their days in the path of virtue. Of this 
truth the holy Tobias is an admirable and illus- 
trious example. The Scripture testifies that when 
but a boy he was faithful in all the duties en- 
joined by the divine law. His virtue at that 
early age was put to the severest trial. Nothing 
could be more dangerous than the situation in 
which Tobias found himself placed in his youth. 
Ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel had re- 
nounced the worship of the true God, and adored 
the idols that had been erected by the impious 
king Jeroboam. -After a long forbearance and re- 
peated admonitions on the part of the Almighty, 
the ten tribes were, in punishment of their 
idolatry, delivered into the hands of Salman 
king of Assyria, who drove them from their 
country, and carried them captives into his own 
dominions. Notwithstanding this visible display 
of God's justice, the idolatrous tribes remained 
obstinate in their wickedness. Among the cap- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 5 

tives or prisoners was the young Tobias; but 
the captivity which was to his companions a 
punishment inflicted by the hand of God's justice, 
was to him, in the order of Providence, the 
trial and the perfection of his virtue. How 
edifying, how encouraging is the example of 
this holy young man, firm and steady in the 
practice of every duty, full of affection for the 
divine law, and faithful in the exercise of his 
religion, though living in the midst of his 
idolatrous countrymen, from whom his virtue 
no doubt met with the severest trials, with 
frequent scoffs, ridicule, and contempt! Steady 
in his adherence to the true faith, Tobias avoided 
the company of the idolaters, and took no part 
in their worship. He knew nothing of the tem- 
porising disposition of worldlings who accom- 
modate their profession of religion to times and 
circumstances. But, sensible of the necessity 
of true faith in order to please God, and con- 
vinced that it is no less an insult to the God of 
truth to refuse assent to revealed truths, than 
to disobey his moral precepts, Tobias was care- 
ful never to give sanction or encouragement to 
error by being present at the idolatrous worship 
practised by his countrymen. With the strictest 
regularity, he, at the times appointed by the 
Jewish law, went up to adore the true God, 

B3 



O HOMILIES ON 

the God of his fathers, in Jerusalem ; in which 
city alone were to be found the priesthood es- 
tablished by God, and the temple chosen by 
himself to be the place of his divine worship. 

In the new law, the holy Catholic Church 
is our Jerusalem. In whatever part of the 
world Providence may place us, we are ever 
to preserve inviolate our communion with this, 
the only true Church* and in her spirit, and ac- 
cording to her laws, to pay our homage and 
adoration to the Supreme Being. Nothing can 
justify our joining in any other form of religious 
worship than that which is established and prac- 
tised in the Catholic Church, " the pillar and the 
ground of truth." 

The regularity of the good Tobias in his strict 
observance of the laws of God and his Church, 
wall, I fear, be a stinging reproach, a severe con- 
demnation to thousands of slothful Catholics, who, 
erring their ease, their pleasures, or their 
worldly business, before their eternal welfare, stay 
away from the holy sacrifice of the mass on 
Sundays and days of obligation, profane the 
holidays of the Church by unnecessary work, 
or disregard the days of abstinence and fasting, 
which the Church enjoins as a salutary punish- 
of our sinful and rebellious flesh. In vain will 
such Christians at the day of judgment appeal 




THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 7 

o their profession of faith as their claim to an 
inheritance in the kingdom of life. The Sovereign 
Judge, while he reproves them for their base 
ingratitude, will thunder out against them the 
dreadful sentence, si Depart from me, I know 
you not." 

Obedience to the commands of the Church 
is a duty inculcated in clear and strong terms 
by our divine Redeemer, when speaking to his 
Apostles, and in them to the Pastors of his 
Church, he says, " He that heareth you, heareth 
me; he that despiseth you, despiseth me." If 
they who refuse obedience to the lawful orders 
of their temporal superiors, are declared by the 
Apostle St. Paul to resist the ordinance of God, 
and to purchase to themselves damnation, what 
shall we say of the crime of those, who called 
by the divine mercy into the true Church, and 
acknowledging her sacred authority, despise her 
injunctions, and disregard her precepts ! Let not 
then, dear Christians, the conduct of others, 
however great their numbers, however respectable 
their rank and condition in life, or however 
edifying their lives may be in other points, in- 
duce you to transgress the precepts of the Church; 
But, like the good Tobias, grateful to heaven 
for the blessing of true faith, and the knowledge 
of your religious duties, and flying from the 

B4 



S HOMILIES ON 

corruption of evil example, preserve in the whole 
tenor of your lives an undeviating fidelity in 
the observance of the laws both of God and 
his Chureh. This strict adherence to the prac- 
tice of your religion will secure you the esteem 
of those among whom you live, and who never 
fail to compare your lives with the faith which 
you profess ; it will also draw down the blessing* 
of God upon your lawful temporal concerns; 
besides affording you a well-grounded title to 
an everlasting recompense in heaven. 

Tobias looked upon nothing as trivial or un- 
important which regarded the service of Godw 
He was careful to practise not only the more 
important obligations of religion, but fulfilled 
the injunctions of the law in every point : "he 
offered faithfully his first-fruits and tithes." — It 
was enjoined by the law, that the first-fruits of 
the produce of the earth, and the first-born of 
animals, should be given for the support of the 
priests. The tithes appointed by the law were 
of three kinds ; one tithe or tenth-part of the 
fruits of the earth, of corn, and of animals, was 
for the Levites or ministers consecrated to the 
divine service; another tithe was to be laid up 
each year, to be eaten at a feast provided for the 
Levites and for the poor ; the third tithe was to 
be reserved every three years, to be distributed 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. & 

among strangers and proselytes, that is, such 
persons as were converted from idolatry to the 
Jewish faith. In the fulfilment of all these ordi- 
nances, Tobias, as soon as he was master of his 
property, was no less exact than in the observ- 
ance of the feasts commanded by the law. He 
did not, as is the case with too many Christians, 
put the calls of worldly interest in competition 
with those of duty, nor stop to consider whether 
the compliance with these obligations might not 
be injurious to his temporal concerns. Tobias 
was fully persuaded, that without the divine 
blessing no temporal concerns can prosper ; and 
that the surest method of securing this blessing, 
is a ready and exact obedience to the laws of 
God and his Church. "Who hath first given 
to God, and recompense shall be made him," 
cries out the Apostle St. Paul, Rom. ii. 35. This 
truth was deeply impressed upon the mind of 
Tobias, and formed an invincible rampart against 
all the suggestions that flesh and blood might 
have thrown in the way of a duty, which he 
performed from a higher motive than any earthly 
emolument — the love of God, and a desire of 
an eternal reward 

As in the old law God was pleased to separate 
from the rest of his people the tribe of Levi 
to serve hira in the temple; so in the new 



10 HOMILIES OK 

law, the holy Church of God requires of those 
who engage in the sacred functions of her 
ministry, a renouncing of secular employments, 
and a detachment from worldly business. She 
exacts from them the most consummate chastity 
of soul and body, that with unsullied purity 
they may perform the high and truly sacred 
obligations of their calling, and, unfettered by 
any earthly tie, may be ready day and night to 
attend to the spiritual necessities of the dear 
souls entrusted to their care. To these salutary 
ordinances of the Catholic Church are owing 
those heroic, edifying, and triumphant examples, 
so often manifested to the world, of pastors 
sacrificing their ease, their rest, their health, and 
even life itself, in promoting the glorious work 
of the salvation of souls. 

Having thus provided for the sanctity of her 
ministers, and the spiritual welfare of her children, 
in order that no pretext of necessity may induce 
her pastors to sacrifice any portion of their 
precious time to temporal concerns, the Church 
by a positive command enjoins, that all the faith* 
ful shall, each according to his respective ability, 
contribute to the maintenance and support of 
their pastors. This law of the Church has it's 
foundation in reason and justice, and merely 
enforces and determines an obligation frequently 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 1 1 

inculcated in the holy Scripture. In countries 
where the Catholic religion is not established 
by law, the manner of fulfilling this duty is left 
to the conscience of individuals. But each con- 
gregation should bear in mind, that the spirit 
of the Church is every where the same, and 
consequently that it is the duty of all to con- 
sider the temporal necessities of their pastors, 
who minister to their own spiritual wants, and, 
like Tobias, cheerfully and conscientiously con- 
tribute to the decent support of the ministers 
of the altar. 

Such, dear Christians, are the admirable lessons 
of morality of which Tobias, even in youth, 
was a perfect pattern. This holy man lived 
under a law in which the means for attaining 
to sanctity were far inferior to those which 
Providence has bestowed upon you. You have 
both the doctrine and the example of a God 
made man, to direct, to animate, and to en- 
courage you. This divine legislator has not 
only delivered to you his precepts, and pointed 
out the path which will conduct you to hap- 
piness, but has with the price of his blood pur- 
chased for you those treasures of grace that 
will enable you to persevere faithfully in his 
service until death. These treasures of grace 
he has left you in the holy sacraments and sa- 



12 HOMILIES, &C. 

crifice of his Church, the constant and never 
failing fountains of mercy. Approach to them 
with humility, with confidence, and with a sin- 
cere desire of advancing daily towards Christian 
perfection. Your diligence and fidelity in using 
these holy means of salvation, will obtain for 
you the grace to be faithful in every duty to 
God here, and entitle you to the reward of 
faithful servants in the kingdom of his glory 
hereafter. 



SECOND HOMILY. 



Chap. I. ver 9. But when he was a man, he took to wife Anna, 
of his own tribe, and had a son by her, whom he called by 

his own name, 10. and from his infancy he taught him 

to fear God and to abstain from all sin. 

An the portion of holy Scripture which forms 
the subject of my present instruction, the good 
Tobias is held out to you, my beloved brethren, 
a perfect model of virtue in the mature age of 
manhood. You have seen him in his youth an 
admirable pattern of the strictest fidelity in the 
exact discharge of every duty. You are now to 
enjoy the pleasing prospect of the beauteous blos- 
soms of that tender age succeeded by an abundant 
crop of fruit in his riper years. As the married 
state is that which embraces by far the greater 
part of mankind, it is true that the happiness 
or misery of a very considerable proportion of 
our fellow-creatures depends upon the discharge 
or neglect of the duties of that state. There is 
no class of duties then, the knowledge of which 
is of greater importance. Yet it is a fact no less 
melancholy than certain, that there is no class of 



14 HOMILIES ON 

duties less known, or more neglected, than this. 
The history of Tobias will afford another oppor- 
tunity of directing your serious consideration to 
the duties which married persons reciprocally owe 
to each other. I shall for the present, therefore, 
content myself with observing how careful the 
good Tobias was in following the injunctions of 
the divine law in making choice of a wife, know- 
ing, as he did, that his temporal and eternal 
happiness depended upon his securing the blessing 
of heaven on that important step. Happy indeed 
will those Christians be, who, like this holy man, 
endeavour to make the will of heaven their .only 
guide in the choice which they make, and the 
sanctification of their souls their great object in 
embracing the holy state of matrimony ! Happy, 
if they carefully observe the regulations of the 
holy Church of God, by neither contracting 
marriage with any one who is in the forbidden 
degrees of kindred, nor celebrating it at the times 
prohibited by her authority ! 

The happy fruit of the holy marriage of Tobias 
was a son, the heir to his father's sanctity and 
extraordinary virtue. But to what was the young 
man's piety owing ? Under God, dear Christians, 
he was indebted for his innocence and virtue to 
the care with which his father performed the 
great and important duties of a parent. " From 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 15 

his infancy, Tobias taught his son to fear God 
and abstain from all sin," ver. 10. Whoever reads 
with attention the lives of the Saints, will be 
convinced of this truth, that the virtuous lives of 
those holy and faithful servants of God were the 
fruits of the tender care with which their parents 
watched over their infant years, and faithfully ful- 
filled the trust imposed upon them by Providence, 
of training their children in the path of virtue. 
On the other hand, observation and experience, 
both of present and past ages, clearly shew, that 
the torrents of vice which overrun the world, and 
bear down so many thousands of mortals into the 
gulph of eternal misery, have their source in the 
neglect of parents to discharge the duties which 
their state imposes on them. Earnestly then do 
I conjure you, Christian parents, who now hear 
me, to give me your most serious attention, while 
I unfold to you, as briefly as I can, the obligations 
of your state, and point out to you in what man- 
ner you may best discharge them. 

Your children are the property of Almighty 
God, to whom they belong upon a thousand 
titles. In your hands they are to be considered 
as so many talents, which you are to improve to 
the best of your power, that you may one day 
restore them with interest to their great Lord and 
Master. He watches your conduct towards them 



16 HOMILIES ON 

with a jealous eye, and at the last and terrible 
day of his judgment will demand a severe ac- 
count from you of the souls of your children. 
To impress your minds with a sense of the strict 
obligation of training your offspring in the path 
that leads to salvation, and of the judgments 
which await those who neglect the duty which 
they owe to their family, God has recorded in 
holy writ the terrible example of the high-priest 
Heli. What Christian parent can read the dread- 
ful chastisement with which the Almighty, even 
in this life, visited Heli's criminal neglect of the 
duties of a father, and not tremble, lest he should 
stand accused at the tribunal of the Sovereign 
Judge of having been wanting in the discharge 
of his duty to his family ! Meditate with atten- 
tion on this example, and be convinced of one 
important truth, that your own happiness for time 
and eternity depends principally upon the faith- 
ful discharge of your duties to your children. 

Heli was old and infirm ; his two sons Ophni 
and Phinees officiated for him in the temple ; but 
they were bad men, and did much evil among 
the people, and gave great scandal. All this 
came to the ears of their father; lie called his 
sons to him, and gave them this gentle repri- 
mand : " Why do you do these kinds of things 
which I hear, very wicked things from all the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS, 17 

people ? Do not so, my sons, for it is no good 
report which I hear." 1 Kings, ii. 23. But the 
old man went no further; he did not use the 
authority with which he was invested as their 
parent, to correct them and put a stop to their 
disorders. For this reason a prophet was sent 
to him, who, in the name of God, upbraided 
Heli with his ingratitude for all the favours 
God had shewn him, declared that his neg- 
leet of the correction of his children was ho- 
nouring them more than God, and denounced 
the most severe punishments upon him and his 
family. 

All this, however, did not rouse this too in- 
dulgent parent to a sense of his duty, and there- 
fore God appeared some time after to the pro- 
phet Samuel, and revealed to him, that all the 
evils which he had before threatened, would 
speedily fall upon Heli. " In that day, says the 
Lord, I will raise up against Heli all the things 
that I have spoken concerning his house. I will 
begin, and I will make an end. For I have fore- 
told to him, that I will judge his house for ever, 
for iniquity, because he knew that his sons did 
wickedly, and did not chastise them." In fact, 
all that the Lord thus denounced was soon after 
accomplished. Heli's two sons both died a violent 
death in one day, and the old man, on hearing 

C 



*8 HOMILIES ON 

the melancholy news of their untimely end, fell 
backwards from his seat, dislocated his neck, and 
expired. 

The tender minds of children are capable of 
receiving any impression, of good or evil, virtue 
or vice ; and it is of you, parents, that God ex- 
pects the fulfilment of the great duty of instilling 
early into them good and virtuous principles of 
action, and sowing in their hearts the seeds of 
virtue. By impressing your children with a re- 
verential love and esteem for you, and placing 
them during infancy in a total dependence upon 
you, God has invested you with the power of 
forming their minds as you please. Regulate 
then, your natural love and affection for them, 
by an earnest desire of their eternal salvation. 
Let every other concern be an object of inferior 
.importance. Suffer not your affection for them 
to degenerate into unnatural harshness and se- 
verity on the one hand, nor a passionate fondness 
on the other. Carefully preserve that authority 
which God has given you, by exacting the most 
prompt and ready obedience to all your orders, 
encouraging such obedience by little rewards, 
and always correcting disobedience. " Give not 
tliy child liberty in his youth, and wink not at 
his devices. Bow down his neck whilst he is 
young, le$t he grow stubborn and regard thee 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 19 

not, and so be a sorrow of heart to thee. 5 ' Eccles* 
xxx. 8. 

In the first place then, there is nothing, Chris- 
tian parents, upon which the success of your 
endeavours in training up your children to virtue 
so much depends, as upon your rendering them 
thus early tractable and obedient. But in en- 
forcing this obedience there is one caution which 
I wish much to impress upon your minds. It 
is, that when one parent orders a child to do any 
thing which it seems unwilling to do, the other 
parent never take the part of the child, but that 
parents always go hand in hand in supporting 
their mutual authority. 

Besides the duty of rendering their children 
obedient, parents are, in the second place, under 
a strict obligation of instructing their children 
in principles of religion and piety, and in the 
law of God, from their earliest years. It is a 
duty expressly enjoined by God himself to his 
people : " These words, which I command thee 
this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt 
tell them to thy children." Deut. vi. 6. The 
first foundation of all religious instruction, is to 
instil into the minds of children a fear of God, 
and a horror of all sin. Let it then be your 
care, Christian parents, to teach your children 
early to pronounce with reverence and respect 

C2 



20 HOMILIES ON 

the names of God and of Jesus Christ ; and by 
your own example to discourage all disrespectful 
and profane use of those sacred names. Acquaint 
them with the torments of a future state which 
await the wicked, and the happiness reserved for 
the faithful servants of God. Instruct them in 
the knowledge of their Creator, and of their total 
dependence upon him. Teach them the obliga- 
tion of morning and evening prayer, for the pur- 
pose of drawing down the divine blessing, and 
see that they are regular in the discharge of that 
sacred duty. As soon as your children are capa- 
ble of it, consider it as one of your most essential 
duties to assist them in the learning of the cate- 
chism at home, and send them regularly to their 
pastor, on Sundays and at other times appointed 
by him, for instruction. Join to your lessons of 
instruction, a proper watchfulness over the con- 
duct of your children ; and carefully remove from 
them whatever would endanger their innocence, 
or might prove the occasion of sin, especially 
wicked servants and evil company. Too many 
parents, having taught their children their prayers 
and their catechism, rest contented, as if they 
had discharged the obligations which their state 
imposes upon them. They leave their children 
during the day almost entirely to themselves, 
giving themselves no concern what servants are 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 21 

employed about them, or with what companions 
they associate. In these moments of neglect, the 
seeds of vice are but too often thickly sown, and 
take too deep a root to be afterwards eradicated. 

In the third place, parents are under a strict 
obligation of correcting the faults of their children ; 
a duty frequently and strongly inculcated in holy 
writ. To impress this obligation upon you, my 
beloved brethren, and to convince you how jealous 
Almighty God is of the strict fulfilment of it, I 
need but remind you of the example of Heli, 
and the severe vengeance which he drew upon 
himself, by his shameful neglect of this duty. In 
administering correction, let a spirit of mildness 
and prudence be your guide ; do nothing in a 
passion, but, influenced by a real desire of your 
children's eternal welfare, beg, at least in your 
hearts, the blessing of God upon your endeavours ; 
and strive to convince your children, that you 
correct them, not in order to gratify any feelings 
of your own, but from a motive of duty to God 
and to them. 

But, Christian parents, to what purpose will it 
be to correct the faults of your children, if your 
own lives present them with an evil pattern? 
This consideration unfolds to you a fourth im- 
portant duty, that of giving to your children a 
good and edifying example in the faithful practice 

C3 



%% HOMTLIES ON 

of every duty, and the careful abstaining frofn 
all sin. In vain will you correct your children 
for their passions, their sinful words, or the ex- 
cessive indulgence of their appetites, if } r our own 
lives are stained with the crimes which you re- 
prove in them. It is to your example that your 
children look for the principles by which to guide 
their own conduct ; and if by your example, you 
have drawn them into sin and entangled them 
in habits of vice, on your heads will fall with 
ten-fold vengeance the woes denounced by Jesus 
Christ against those who scandalize his little 
ones. 

Lastly, it is a most important obligation of 
parents, to pray for their children. That faithfid 
servant of God, holy Job, rising early, offered 
up sacrifices and burnt-offerings for every one of 
his children, lest they should have sinned and 
offended God. The example of this holy man is 
recorded as a model of imitation for all parents, 
who should never fail to offer up their children 
daily to Almighty God, and make it a part of 
their morning and evening devotions to implore 
his blessing upon them. What abundant sources 
of grace will those parents, who are faithful in 
this duty, open to their children, for their pre- 
servation from the dangers of sin, and their con- 
firmation in the way of virtue ! 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 23 

Such, my beloved brethren, is a short view of 
the important duties and obligations of Christian 
parents. To sum up these duties in a few words : 
the Almighty, who has blessed you with children 
for no other end than that you may train them 
up for heaven, requires of you, that you make 
the eternal salvation of your children the prin- 
cipal object of your concern for them ; secondly, 
that you be careful to preserve the authority 
which he has given you, by exacting from them 
the most ready obedience ; thirdly, that you in- 
struct your children in the principles and duties 
of religion, and carefully remove from them every 
thing dangerous to their innocence; fourthly, 
that you enforce your instructions by the power- 
ful influence of good example and a virtuous life ; 
and lastly, that not confiding on your own exer- 
tions, you endeavour by daily prayer to draw 
down the divine blessing upon them. 

Great and truly awful, dear Christians, is the 
charge entrusted to parents, and severe will be 
the account which will one day be demanded of 
them. Their own happiness, as well as that of 
their children, depends upon their faithful per- 
formance of the duties attached to their charge. 
What may be said of the pastor of souls is equally 
applicable to parents. They can neither stand nor 
fall alone. If they .neglect the care of the souls 

C4 



24 HOMILIES 0$f 

of their children, the eternal ruin of both will 
be the dreadful consequence. If they are faithful 
to their duty, the tender souls which have been 
trained by them in the path of virtue, will both 
secure their own everlasting bliss, and will each 
of them be a jewel of inestimable glory in the 
unfading crowns of their virtuous parents. Sen- 
sible then of the great and truly important obli- 
gations which divine Providence has imposed 
upon you, I conjure you, Christian parents, who 
now hear me, to imitate the holy and virtuous 
Tobias in the exact discharge of these duties. 
Like him, teach your children from their earliest 
infancy to fear God and to abstain from all sin. 
Implant in their tender minds feelings of charity 
and compassion for their distressed fellow-crea- 
tures ; and give them frequent opportunities of 
exercising those feelings, by making them occa- 
sionally the distributors of your alms. By fer- 
vent prayer, and the devout frequenting of the 
sacraments, seek the blessing of heaven upon your 
good endeavours, to train them up in piety and 
virtue. Oh ! what consolation will the thought 
of your having faithfully discharged these duties 
diffuse over the bed of death ! With what con- 
fidence will you be enabled to stand at the last 
day before the Sovereign Judge ! With what joy 
will you receive back from his hand the dear 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 25 

pledges of your mutual affection, ascend with 
them to the realms of bliss, and enter into the 
possession of that transcendent glory which is 
promised as the portion of those who instruct 
others unto justice 1 Dan. xiii. 3. 



THIRD HOMILY, 



CJiap. I. ver. 11. And when by the captivity, he with his wife 
and his son, and all his tribe, was come to the city of 

Ninive, 12. (when all ate of the meats of the Gentiles) 

he kept his soul, and never was defiled with then* meats 

13. And because he was mindful of the Lord with all his 
heart, God gave him favour in the sight of Salmanasar the 

king 14. And he gave him leave to go whithersoever 

he would, with liberty to do whatever he had a mind 

15. He therefore went to all that were in captivity, and gave 
them wholesome admonitions. 

A he trials and persecutions of this life, which 
in the order of God's providence serve for the 
punishment of sinners, are to the just man the 
means of purifying his soul, and bringing his vir- 
tues to perfection. For, my beloved brethren, the 
Apostle St. Paul assures us, that " all things work 
for the good of those who love God, and whom 
he calls to be saints." Rom. viii. 28. Thus it 
was with the good Tobias; and the portion of 
his history which forms the ground- work of my 
present instruction, exhibits to your view a most 
edifying pattern of virtue, under some of the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 27 

severest trials that can befal human nature. 
Tobias, with his wife and sons and several of 
his countrymen, were, in consequence of their 
captivity, obliged to take up their residence in 
the city of Ninive, the capital of the Assyrian 
empire. The vicious example of the inhabitants 
of that rich and populous city, added to the 
weight of the temporal calamities with which 
God had visited the sins and ingratitude of the 
Israelites, was too strong for the weak virtue of 
the greater part of the captives who dwelt there. 
None but Tobias had the courage to withstand 
the torrent of corruption, and preserve inviolate 
his fidelity to the ordinances of the divine law. 
What grief must have oppressed the heart of this 
holy man when he beheld his fellow-countrymen, 
instead of humbling themselves under the divine 
scourges, and appeasing God's wrath by the 
amendment of their lives, adding to their past 
crimes the guilt of fresh provocations, by trans- 
gressing some of the essential precepts of their 
religion. 

When the Almighty was pleased to call the 
descendants of Abraham to be his chosen people, 
the other nations of the earth were buried in 
the grossest idolatries and superstitions. To pre- 
vent his people, therefore, from being infected 
by the contagion of the evil example universally 



28 HOMILIES ON 

spread around them, God ordained for the Jews 
a great number of rites, ceremonies, and legal 
observances, some of which were constantly re- 
curring to call off their attention from too free 
an intercourse with the rest of the world. Among 
these legal observances was the distinction of 
clear! and unclean meats, by which the Almighty 
would at the same time teach his chosen people 
the necessity of self-denial, and of restraining 
their natural appetites ; and moreover remove 
them further from the danger of being infected 
with idolatry, by preventing their eating with 
the heathens, among whom they lived. Tobias 
in his captivity, though placed in a situation most 
dangerous to his virtue, rigidly observed all the 
ordinances of the law relative to the distinction 
of meats. He yielded neither to the cravings 
of self-love, nor the solicitations of pretended 
friends, nor the ridicule of unbelievers. With a 
steady step ho continued to walk in the path 
of obedience, faithfully fulfilling whatever was 
enjoined by the law, from a pure motive of the 
love of God, and an earnest desire of eternal life. 

The Old Testament furnishes several noble 
examples, besides that of holy Tobias, of the 
fidelity with which the servants of God observed 
the rites of the Jewish law respecting meats. 
One of the -most illustrious of these examples 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 29 

is the truly heroic Eleazar, a venerable old man, 
ninety years of age, who, in the persecution 
under the impious king Antiochus, cheerfully 
resigned his life rather than transgress the law 
by eating of forbidden meats. No doubt some 
of his worldly fiiends, who thought only of his 
temporal life, would repeatedly suggest to him 
that there could be no harm in tasting a bit 
of the flesh of swine any more than of any other 
animal, and that what goeth into the mouth 
is not that which defileth a man, and conse- 
quently advise him to comply with what was 
demanded of him, and save his life. But, with 
what indignation did the holy man reject their 
crafty solicitations to sin ! How did he reproach 
them for their cruelty, which, under the mask 
of friendship, advised him to purchase a few 
moments of a wretched existence that death 
must shortly terminate, at the expense of losing 
the favour of the Deity here, and the eternal 
enjoyment of his glorious presence hereafter ! The 
venerable Eleazar had formed his notions of duty, 
not upon the false principles of the children of 
the world, who study only present ease, and 
seek for happiness in the gratification of their 
passions, but upon the solid maxims of true 
piety, which teaches us to make the will of God 
the sole ride of all our actions. He was sensible 



30 



HOMILIES (XNf 



that in whatever the Creator commands, the 
duty of the creature is to obey, and that to 
refuse obedience to the sovereign authority of 
our Maker is always sinful. Whether* therefore, 
the Almighty by his own word commands us 
to abstain from fornication, or to refrain from 
touching the fruit of some particular tree, or 
by his Church enjoins at certain times an ab- 
stinence from flesh meat, the transgression of 
any one of these commands is an act of dis- 
obedience, and as such defiles the soul, robs it 
of the title of a child of God, and deprives 
it of all claim to an inheritance in his kingdom. 
Convinced of these truths, the holy Eleazar stood 
firm in the path of obedience. His pretended 
friends, seeing his undaunted constancy, attacked 
his virtue in a more insidious way. They ad- 
vised him to make an appearance of complying 
with the orders of his persecutor, offering to 
substitute meat which it was lawful for him to 
eat, that by thus seeming to comply, he might 
satisfy his enemies, and save his life. But " he," 
says the sacred text, " began to consider the 
dignity of his age, and the inbred honour of 
his grey hairs, and his good life and conversation 
from a child, and he answered without delay, 
that he would rather be sent into another world. 
For, it doth not become our age, said he, to 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 31 

dissemble ; whereby many young persons might 
think that Eleazar at the age of fourscore and 
ten years* were gone over to the life of heathens : 
and so they, through my dissimulation, and for 
a little time of a corruptible life, should be de- 
ceived, and hereby I should bring a stain and 
a curse upon my old age. For though, for the 
present time, I should be delivered from the 
punishments of men, yet should I not escape 
the hand of the Almighty alive nor dead. Where- 
fore, by departing manfully out of this life, I 
shall shew myself worthy of my old age; and 
I shall leave an example of fortitude to young 
men, if with a ready mind and constancy I suffer 
an honourable death for the most venerable and 
most holy laws. And having spoken thus, he 
was forthwith carried to execution. And, when 
he was now ready to die with the stripes, he 
groaned and said : O Lord, who hast the holy 
knowledge, thou knowest manifestly that whereas 
I might be delivered from death, I suffer grievous 
pains in my body ; but in soul am well content 
to suffer these things, because I fear thee. Thus 
did this man die, leaving, not only to young 
men, but also to the whole nation, the memory 
of his death for an example of virtue and forti- 
tude." 2 Macchabees vi. — Yes, Christians, thus 
did this venerable servant of God die ; thus did 



32 HOMILIES ON 

he exchange this short and transitory life for im- 
mortal glory ; thus did he crown, by a glorious 
death, a life spent in the faithful service of his 
Creator, yielding himself a sacrifice of obedience 
to the commands of his God. Thus did he leave, 
not only to his own nation, but to you and to 
all Christians, a noble example of the fidelity 
which you owe to the sacred injunctions of God 
and his Church. 

For, my beloved brethren, the precepts of the 
Church are, in fact, precepts of Almighty God, 
since it is God who speaks to us by his Church. 
Our divine Redeemer, before his ascension into 
heaven, gave to the pastors of his Church, in the 
persons of his apostles, a commission to establish 
his kingdom upon earth, a power to rule and 
govern those who should become subject to his 
kingdom, and consequently an authority to ap- 
point and ordain such regulations as should seem 
necessary for the welfare of souls entrusted to 
their care. He had long before pointed out the 
duty of obedience to their orders, in those words 
which he addressed to them, "he that heareth 
you, heareth me ; he that despiseth you, despiseth 
me :" declaring also, that whoever will not hear, 
that is, obey, the Church, shall have no more 
claim to the kingdom of heaven than the heathen 
who adores false gods, or the publican, that is, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. S3 

the notorious sinner, whose crimes render him 
deserving of eternal damnation. Whether, then, 
the Almighty condescends to speak to us by 
his own mouth, and to write with his own finger 
the commandments which we are to fulfil, or 
whether he delivers his precepts to us through 
the voice of the pastors of his Church, these 
injunctions are all founded upon the same divine 
authority, and the same is the obligation on our 
part of faithfully complying with them. Who- 
ever, therefore, lives in the wilful violation of any 
one of the precepts of the Church, whether as 
to the neglect of hearing mass on Sundays and 
holydays, or of abstaining from flesh-meat on 
certain days, lives in disobedience to the spiritual 
authority which God has appointed to guide him ; 
and unless he renounces that disobedience, what- 
ever his life may be in other respects, will not 
be admitted to a participation of the reward pro- 
mised only to the humble and obedient. 

But, it may be. asked, why has the Church 
given any commandments at all in addition to 
those expressly delivered by God himself? The 
answer to this question, my beloved brethren, 
will establish clearly both the end and the utility 
of the precepts which the Catholic Church en- 
joins to her children. I answer then, that the 
design of these precepts is, to enable us to fuLfi! 

D 



34? HOMILIES ON 

more easily the ordinances of the law of God, 
first, by appointing certain exterior acts of piety 
best adapted to conduct us to that end ; and, 
secondly, by determining the best time and man- 
ner of observing the divine commandments. 

To prove the truth of this answer, I shall in- 
stance only the precept of fasting and abstinence, 
as being naturally connected with the subject of 
this day's instruction. We are all sinners, and 
in this character owe to the divine justice a 
satisfaction for the sins by which we have trans- 
gressed the law of God. For, by a fixed rule 
of God's justice, whatever has been denied by 
sin, must be purified by the virtue of penance 
here, or feel hereafter the rigours of an avenging 
justice no longer tempered with mercy. Hence 
those frequent invitations to the practice of pen- 
ance, which the inspired writings both in the 
Old and New Testament continually hold out to 
sinners, calling upon them to take the scourge 
into their own hands, and, by the voluntary chas- 
tisement of their own rebellious flesh, to avert 
the more dreadful scourges of the divine anger 
provoked by their crimes. Jesus Christ positive- 
ly declares to all his followers, " unless ye do 
penance ye shall all perish ;" and proclaims, that 
" whoever would be his disciple must deny him- 
self, and take up his cross, and then follow him - 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 

His whole life, which is to be the model of ours, 
was a life of penance ; and in this he has been 
imitated by all his Saints, who, whatever may 
have been the peculiar virtues that adorned their 
character, were all remarkable for the exercise of 
holy penance. The great Apostle of the Gentiles, 
St. Paul, though chosen by God himself to be a 
vessel of election, though unconscious to him- 
self of any wilful transgression of the divine 
law, though gifted with the power of working 
miracles, and for the encouragement of his virtue 
wrapt up to the third heaven,, yet did not think 
himself exempt from the general law r of penance, 
but practised himself the obligation which he 
inculcated to others. *' I chastise my body and 
bring it into subjection, lest, Vhen I have preached 
to others, I myself should become a reprobate." 
I Cor. 9-— Shall we then, who are sinners, look 
upon penance and self-denial as unnecessary ? No, 
my beloved brethren, deceive not yourselves ; pen- 
ance and the mortification both of the inward 
and outward man, ever were, and ever will be 
essential duties of a Christian life, The holy 
Council of Trent fears not to assert, that the 
whole life of a Christian ought to be a life of 
penance. We are under a strict obligation of 
labouring to appease the wrath of God, to draw 
down his mercy by works of penance, and by 



36 HOMILIES ON 

voluntarily abstaining from the use of things 
which are at other times lawful, to make atone- 
ment for our past criminal excesses, and for the 
unlawful use which we too often have made of 
what the bounty of God has provided for our 
support. It is then to teach you these important 
lessons, and to aid you in the practice of them, 
that the church, by the authority with which 
Christ invested her, enjoins certain times for the 
exercise of those works of penance that God 
has declared most available in his sight — fasting 
and abstinence. Great indeed will be your con- 
solation at the hour of death, if, like the holy 
Tobias or the venerable Eleazar, you can then 
look back upon a life faithful in the observance 
of these holy duties." But miserable will be 
your condition, and dreadful will then be your 
anguish of soul, if when you stand before the 
tribunal of an all-seeing Judge, you shall be 
charged with having added to your other crimes, 
a wilful disobedience to the church of God, with 
having neglected to use the salutary means of 
atoning for the heavy debt due to the justice of 
God, and with having brought a scandal upon 
your religion, and caused the enemies of your 
faith to blaspheme, by your irreligious lives. 
Living, as the first Christians did, in the midst 
of those who, through ignorance or prejudice, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 37 

look upon your religion with an eye of ridicule 
and contempt, let your conversation be good 
among them, by the faithful observance of the 
laws of God and his Church ; that* whereas they 
speak of you as evil doers, considering your good 
works and holiness of life, they may be most 
powerfully convinced of the purity of your faith, 
and uniting themselves to the one fold of the 
one Shepherd, may be brought to glorify God 
in the day of his visitation. The world, though 
it affects to treat the virtues of the servants of 
God as folly, yet cannot refuse them the tribute 
of admiration and respect. It dreads them, be- 
cause it well knows that nothing so strongly 
tends to lessen the numbers of it's own deluded 
followers as the good example of the virtuous ; 
yet it cannot withhold from the latter it's sincere 
esteem of their heroic conduct. Tobias, though 
alone in the path of virtue, drew upon himself 
the love and veneration of the wicked. King 
Salmanasar himself admired his virtue, shewed 
him marks of his favour, and gave him leave to 
go whithersoever he would. 

In the cup of afflictions, which his providence 
presents to his chosen servants for their trial, the 
Almighty usually mingles some drops, at least, 
of his heavenly consolations, both to reward their 
fidelity and to encourage them to perseverance. 

D3 



3S HOMILIES ON 

Having humbled Tobias, by making him a par- 
taker of the captivity and afflictions which had 
befallen his brethren* God now permits him to 
enjoy a little sunshine of prosperity in the favour 
of his prince. Tobias, ever steady to his princi- 
ples of virtue, acknowledges the finger of Provi- 
dence in his prosperity, no less than in his 
adversities* He employs this short season of 
peace and tranquillity in acts of benevolence and 
mercy towards his persecuted and distressed bre- 
thren. He shares with them the bounties of his 
prince, distributing freely among them what he 
himself had freely received. He accompanies his 
acts of charity with the more holy and more 
efficacious exercises of spiritual alms-deeds ; ad- 
monishing his sinful countrymen-of .their ingrati- 
tude to God, the source of all their misfortunes ; 
exhorting them to receive their afflictions in the 
spirit of sincere repentance, by humbling them- 
selves under the mighty hand of God ; to acknow- 
ledge the visitation of his mercy, and by re- 
nouncing their evil ways, to turn their captivity 
into a powerful means of atoning for past crimes, 
And securing to themselves for the future the 
mercy of their offended God. 

Whatever be your station in life, my beloved 
brethren, let this example of the good Tobias 
be the model of your conduct. If God has been 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 3<) 

liberal in bestowing upon you temporal blessings, 
be you liberal in dispensing a share of them to 
vour distressed fellow-creatures. If he has given 
you little, of that little give cheerfully, according 
to your abilities. Be each of you faithful, like 
this holy servant of God, in exercising the spiri- 
tual works of mercy to your fellow-creatures, by 
contributing, as far as lies in your power, to the 
salvation of the souls of your neighbours. This 
is done, first by procuring instruction for such 
as are ignorant of the principles of religion, 
especially your children and others entrusted to 
your care ; secondly, by endeavouring tp promote 
the conversion of sinners, to withdraw them from 
the path of vice, and by wholesome admonitions 
reclaim them from their evil w T ays ; lastly, by 
good example, and an edifying life, opening the 
eyes of others to see the way of truth, and 
powerfully inclining their hearts to embrace it. 
Your fidelity in these holy duties will prove to 
your souls an abundant source of grace during 
life, of joy and consolation in death, and entitle 
you to an everlasting reward in heaven. 



D 4 



FOURTH HOMILY, 



Chap. I. ver 16. And when Tobias was come to Rages, a city of 
the Medes, and had ten talents of silver of that with which 

he had been honoured by the king: 17. and when 

amongst a great multitude of his kindred, he saw Gabelus 
in want, who was one of his own tribe, taking a note of his 
hand, he gave him the aforesaid sum of money. 

ftomiljft* 

Jlhe holy Tobias, as my last instruction in- 
formed you, by his edifying life and virtuous 
conversation, by his undaunted constancy in the 
path of virtue, and his steady adherence to the 
divine law, gained the esteem and veneration 
not only of his own countrymen, but of the 
heathens among whom he lived. The king him- 
self honoured Tobias with his friendship ; and, 
knowing his charitable disposition, furnished him 
with considerable sums of money for the exercise 
of his benevolence. The holy servant of God, 
who set no other value upon riches than as they 
enabled him to imitate the bounteous Giver of 
all good gifts, by dispensing blessings to his 
fellow-creatures, faithfully employed the presents 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 41 

of his prince in acts of mercy and charity to his 
distressed brethren. During the latter part of 
the reign of Salmanasar, the rigours of the capti- 
vity of the Jewish people seem to have been 
softened. The tribe of Nephthali, to which Tobias 
belonged, was no longer confined to the walls 
of Ninive. Gabelus, who was of the same tribe, 
had fixed his residence at Rages, a city of the 
Medes. Tobias finding himself, in consequence 
of the king's generosity, blessed with the means 
of alleviating the distresses of his countrymen, 
travelled over the whole country in search of 
those who were iri want. While he excluded 
none of his fellow-creatures from partaking of 
his charity, he was careful to exercise this virtue 
with prudence, and according to the order pre- 
scribed by tne law of nature and religion. Those 
who are connected with us by the ties of kindred 
and the bond of faith, have the first claim upon 
our benevolence. Hence the severe reproaches 
which our divine Redeemer made to the Phari- 
sees, because they taught the people to transfer 
to other purposes of charity, the relief which by 
the strictest of obligations they owed to their 
nearest kindred, their parents. Hence also the 
advice of the Apostle St. Paul, " whilst ye have 
time, do good to all men, but especially to those 
who are of the household of the faith." Gal. vi. 10. 



<&% HOMILIES ON 

Acting up to these principles of duty, Tobias 
sought for the first objects of his charity among 
his own kindred. At Rages, he found Gabelus, 
his relation, in want, and he assisted him in a 
manner, which at the same time that it proved 
of the greatest service to his kinsman, would not 
be injurious to himself. To enable Gabelus tq 
rise from the unfortunate situation to which he 
had been reduced, and to aid him in making a 
provision for himself and his family, Tobias kindly 
lent him ten talents, requiring for his security a 
note of hand. Ten talents amounted at the lowest 
calculation to nearly two thousand pounds of our 
money : with this sum, Gabelus was raised from 
the brink of destruction, and found himself in a 
condition to acquire a decent maintenance for 
himself and family. As the relief which Tobias 
afforded his kinsman, was a charity undertaken 
from the purest of motives, and guided by pru- 
dence and discretion, heaven gave a blessing to 
this exercise of mercy, both with regard to the 
giver and the receiver, as the sequel of this history 
informs us. During the short sunshine of pros- 
perity which Tobias enjoyed, his whole time w r as 
employed in acts of charity and benevolence, 
though the holy scripture selects merely the 
example just given to you, because it points out 
a species of brotherly love but seldom practised by 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 43 

mankind, though of all others the most easy ; and 
frequently, as in the case of Gabelus, attended 
with the most beneficial effects. Those to whom 
God has given far more than is necessary for 
their own wants, forget that they are only stew< 
ards of the sovereign Lord and Master of all, 
with whom there is no distinction of persons, 
and who will one day demand a severe account 
of the talents entrusted to them. Instead of 
searching, like the good Tobias, for deserving 
objects of charity, and tasting the real happiness 
to be found in doing good to others, in enabling 
the reduced tradesman to rise superior to the 
hardships that oppress him, or aiding the indus- 
trious peasant to provide more decent covering, 
and a better meal for his half-starved and almost 
naked family, the rich ones of the world too 
often close their eyes to the scenes of woe that 
throw a gloom round their splendid habitations, 
and shut their ears to the cry of misery. Stran- 
gers to the truly enviable happiness of resembling 
the God of mercy, by diffusing blessings to their 
fellow-creatures, they know no other value of 
riches than that they enable them to purchase 
the gratification of their passions, and to riot in 
voluptuousness and sin. Thus, their riches, which, 
if faithfully employed, would have rendered them 
beloved of God in this life, and powerfully ad- 



44 HOMILIES ON 

vance them to their crown of immortal glory in 
the next, become the instruments of destruction 
to their immortal souls, shut out the grace of 
God during life, and close against them, in the 
hour of death, the gate that leads to everlasting 
bliss. " Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl 
for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your 
riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth 
eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted : and the 
rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, 
and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored 
up to yourselves wrath against the last day." 
St. James, v. 1. 



Ver. 18. But after a long time, Salmanasar, the king, being, 
dead, when Sennacherib his son, who reigned in his place, 

had a hatred for the children of Israel: 1 9. Tobias 

daily went among all his kindred, and comforted them, and 

distributed to every one as he was able, out of his goods 

20. He fed the hungry, and gave clothes to the naked, and 
was careful to bury the dead, and them that were slain. 

While the virtuous Tobias enjoyed the favour 
of his prince, his charity had free scope to exercise 
itself in whatever place, and in whatever manner 
he thought proper. But this liberty lasted not 
long. King Salmanasar, who had so much be- 
friended Tobias, died, and was succeeded by his 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 45 

son Sennacherib, a mortal enemy of the Jewish 
people. Tobias, by his fidelity in the discharge 
of the duties of piety and charity during his 
friendship with the late king, had prepared him- 
self to meet with fortitude the change occasioned 
by the death of his benefactor, and secured the 
graces necessary for the hour of trial. Moreover, 
by his prudent management of his temporal con- 
cerns, he had, notwithstanding his great charities, 
laid up sufficient for the wants of his family, and 
found himself, though deprived of the king's boun- 
ty, still enabled to administer relief to his afflicted 
countrymen. His purse was ever open to the 
call of distress ; and when money failed, he dis- 
tributed to every one as he was able, out of the 
goods that were in his possession. Admirable as 
the charity of Tobias appeared in the season of 
prosperity, it shone with much greater lustre in 
adversity. Like a cloud, which for a time ob- 
scures the brightness of the sun only to render 
it's light more refulgent and more welcome, afflic- 
tion puts the virtues of the servants of God to 
the test, proves them to be real, and manifests 
them to the world in their full splendour. The 
difficulties also, to which the practice of virtue in 
time of persecution exposes the Saints, considera- 
bly enhance the merit of their edifying conduct, 
and add to their crowns. Convinced of this truth. 



46 HOMILIES ON 

the holy Tobias, bereft of all earthly protection, 
continued with assiduity his usual acts of mercy, 
confiding in the care of that all- wise and just 
Providence, which in the day of the final distri- 
bution of it's justice will proportion if s rewards 
to the charities that have been exercised in it's 
name. If, as our divine Redeemer assures us, 
not a cup of cold water, given from a motive of 
charity, shall pass unrewarded, what an immense 
weight of glory shall grace the crowns of those 
faithful stewards of the God of mercy, who shall 
be found, like the good Tobias, to have consoled 
the afflicted, reclaimed the sinner, fed the hungry, 
clothed the naked, and cheerfully relieved their 
distressed fellow-creatures ! To such will the sove- 
reign Judge declare, " Amen, I say to you, what 
ye have thus done to one of these, ye have done 
unto me, enter ye into the joy of your Lord." 
Is there one among you, my beloved brethren, 
who, if the Saviour of the world, who poured out 
the last drop of his blood for our salvation, were 
in person to solicit a favour from you, would un- 
gratefully refuse to grant it ? Behold him then in 
the person of those distressed objects who daily 
crave your charity. Give relief according to the 
ability with which God has blessed you, but give 
from a sincere motive of pleasing God, and of 
gaining a reward in heaven, Thus will you lav 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 47 

tip to yourselves treasures in that kingdom 
where neither rust nor moth consumeth, nor 
thieves break in and steal; but the glorious 
presence of that God, who is himself the ex- 
ceedingly great and secure reward of his ser- 
vants, shall fill your happy souls with everlasting* 
joy and delight. 



Ver. 21. And when king Sennacherib was come back, flee* 
ing from Judaea by reason of the slaughter that God had 
made about him for his blasphemy ; and being angry, slew 
many of the children of Israel, Tobias buried their 

bodies 22. But when it was told the king, he 

commanded him to be slain, and took away all his sub* 

stance 23. But Tobias, fleeing naked away with his 

son and with his wife, lay concealed, for many loved him. 

I have already informed you, my beloved 
brethren, that out of the twelve tribes into 
which the children of Israel were divided, ten 
had renounced the worship of the true God, and* 
in punishment of their idolatry, had been de- 
livered into the hands of Salmanasar, and had 
been led away prisoners by him to his own 
dominions. The two tribes which remained in 
their native country, were the tribes of Judah 
and Benjamin, and composed what was called 
the kingdom of Judah, of which Jerusalem w»£ 



4S HOMILIES ON 

the capital city. Sennacherib, flushed with the 
success which had attended his father's invasion 
of the kingdom of Israel, and impelled by the 
hatred which he himself entertained for the 
Jewish race, led a mighty army into Judasa. 
Puffed up with pride, he imagined that nothing 
could resist his power. To his pride and self- 
conceit he added the most impious blasphemy; 
a crime of all others the most insulting to the 
Deity, since it attempts to pull him down from 
the throne of his majesty, denies his attributes 
and perfections, and treats him with open con- 
tempt. At the time in which Sennacherib in- 
vaded Judaea, the throne of Judah was filled by 
Ezechias, one of the most virtuous monarchs 
that ever reigned. To him the haughty Sen- 
nacherib sent an insulting message, imperiously 
commanding him to deliver up himself and his 
people, telling him that it was in vain he trusted 
in the protection of God, for that God would 
not be able to prevent their falling into his hands. 
Ezechias, shocked at this blasphemous denial of 
God's omnipotence, rent his garments with grief, 
put on the garb of a penitent, covering himself 
with sackcloth ; and, as his only consolation, re- 
paired to the house of the Lord, to pour forth 
his soul in fervent supplication for mercy. At 
the same time, he sent the most ancient and 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 49 

virtuous of his priests, clothed also in sackcloth, 
to the venerable prophet Isaiah, his counsellor 
and director, to beg of the man of God to put 
up his prayers also for the remnant of the 
children of Israel. Pleased with the humble 
confidence of the virtuous king, the Almighty 
inspired his prophet instantly to assure Ezechias 
that the threats of his enemy were vain, and 
that his blasphemy should meet w th a speedy 
and severe punishment The holy king was 
comforted ; but, having received a second in- 
sulting and blasphemous message from the ge- 
neral of the Assyrians, redoubled his prayers, 
expressing his firm hope and confidence that 
the Almighty would shew forth his power for 
the protection of his people. God heard his 
prayer, and bade his prophet declare to him, 
that the king of the Assyrians should not come 
into the city of Jerusalem, nor shoot an arrow 
into it, nor even cast a trench about it. " By 
the way that he came he shall return, and into 
this city he shall not come, saith the Lord. And 
I will protect this city, and will save it for my 
own sake, and for David my servant's sake. 
And it came to pass that night, that an angel 
of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the 
Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. 
And when Sennacherib arose early in the morn- 

E 



50 HOMILIES ON 

ing, he saw all dead bodies. And departing he 
went away, and he returned and abode in Mnive." 
4 Kings, xviii. xix. — Hither the vengeance of 
that God whom he had blasphemed, followed 
him; here it overtook and cut him off in the 
midst of his impious career ; but not until he 
had added to the weight of his past crimes the 
guilt of many fresh acts of cruelty, injustice, 
and murder. Stung with madness at the thoughts 
of his late defeat, but not at all humbled or 
changed by the scourge that h^iad drawn upon 
himself and his people, he returned home, covered 
with shame, but full of pride, malice, and re- 
venge. Though he had so lately felt the severe 
vengeance of that God whom he had blasphemed, 
he neither thought of atoning for his crimes, nor 
petitioning for pardon. Still bent upon the 
gratification of his lawless passions, he resolved 
to wreak his vengeance upon the unoffending 
Israelites in his own dominions. He commenced 
a cruel persecution against them, and put several 
of them to death, leaving their bodies unburied, 
as a terror and affliction to their surviving coun- 
trymen. In this calamitous situation, Tobias, 
though exposed to certain danger of losing his 
property, if not his life, continued with un- 
daunted constancy his usual acts of mercy, and 
added to them the burial of the dead, and of 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 51 

those that were slain. His charity soon reached 
the ears of the wicked king, who commanded 
him to be slain, and took away all his substance. 
But God, in whom he trusted, watched over 
the life of his servant ; and while, for the trial 
of his virtue, he permitted him to be deprived 
of his worldly possessions, suffered not a hair 
of his head to be hurt. For Tobias, hearing of 
the king's order for his death, fled away naked 
with his wife and his son, and lay concealed. 
The hand of Providence guided him to a place 
of refuge, and as it had formerly conducted 
Joseph into the pit and the dungeon, for the 
perfection of his merit, so now it led Tobias 
into his solitary and painful retirement, to ma- 
nifest him to after ages as a model of consummate 
virtue, and as a pledge of the care which the 
Almighty takes of those who faithfully serve 
him. Tobias, in the poverty and distress to 
which he was reduced, reaped the fruits of his 
former virtues. The consciousness of his past 
fidelity filled his soul with sweet tranquillity, a 
certain foretaste of heaven ; and many who had 
witnessed and felt the effects of his charities, 
now shewed their affectionate esteem for him ? 
and gladly received him at their tables. Tobias 
in his affliction, though strip t of all his goods, 
even of his very clothes, and depending for 

E 2 



52 HOMILIES ON 

subsistence upon those whom he had formers- 
relieved in their distress, was far more happy 
than the cruel Sennacherib on his throne, racked 
with remorse for his crimes, with disappointed 
ambition, and with a dread of death, which 
would level all his pride, deprive him of all 
that had engaged his affections, and hurry him 
before the judgment -seat of a God whom he had 
blasphemed. Short-lived is the prosperity of the 
wicked. In the height of their pride, they may 
laugh at the threats of divine justice, and despise 
the calls of God's mercy ; but the day of retri- 
bution will most assuredly come, and manifest 
them to the world a dreadful example of the 
folly of preferring earth before heaven, and of 
expecting to find any real happiness in the path 
of sin, or in the gratification of their passions, 
which bring along with it nothing but remorse 
of conscience here, and conducts to an eternity 
of misery hereafter. 



Ver. 24. After forty-five days, Sennacherib the king was killed 

by Ins own sons 25. And Tobias returned to his own 

housej and all his substance was restored to him. 

Sennacherib, having filled up the measure of 
his iniquities, was slain by his own sons, while 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 53 

he was in the very act of adoring his false gods, 
and paying to idols the homage which he owed 
to the true God, whose vengeance he had already 
felt but whose judgments he had despised. 
Such was the punishment which, even in this 
life, overtook one of the most powerful monarchs 
that ever reigned upon the earth. But do 
you, my beloved brethren, meditating on his 
example, carry your thoughts beyond the grave. 
Contemplate those everlasting fires prepared for 
the unrepenting sinner. Tremble, lest, like the 
impious Sennacherib, you should stand accused 
at the hour of death of having insulted the 
God of heaven by murmuring against his Provi- 
dence, by profaning his holy name, and by 
calling down damnation upon yourselves or your 
fellow-creatures, or of having been guilty of 
a murder infinitely worse than the death of 
the body, the murder of the souls of others 
by evil conversation, impure discourse, or bad 
example. Repair all past scandals by an edify- 
ing life for the time to come. Break off all 
evil habits, more especially of swearing or lewd 
conversation, the sources of ruin to so many 
unhappy young persons. Consecrate the re- 
mainder of your lives to fidelity in the divine 
service. Study the example of the good Tobias, 
and imitate his constancy in the path of virtue, 

E3 



54 HOMILIES, &C. 

Thus will every circumstance of your lives, both 
in adversity and prosperity, prove to you, as it 
did to him, the means of advancing you in the 
way that leads to perfection here, and to the 
crown of glory laid up for you in heaven. 
Amen* 






FIFTH HOMILY, 



Chap. II. ver. 1. But after this, when there was a festival of 
the Lord, and a good dinner was prepared in Tobias's 

house, 2. he said to his son, go, and bring some of 

our tribe that fear God, to feast with us. 

JL o renew in the minds of his people the 
memory of his past mercies, and of the astonish- 
ing wonders which he had wrought for their 
deliverance ; to inspire them with gratitude, and 
fill their hearts with a love of their almighty 
Benefactor, God himself was pleased to appoint 
for the Jews certain festivals, which he com- 
manded to he celebrated with great solemnity. 
The principal of these festivals, my beloved 
brethren, were, the Passover, in w T hich the Jews 
celebrated their deliverance from the slavery of 
Egypt, by sacrificing and eating the paschal 
lamb ; the feast of Pentecost, in memory of 
their receiving the law from God on mount 
Sinai; and the feast of Tabernacles or Tents, 
in memory of their having dwelt in tents during 
their forty years sojourning in the wilderness. 

E4 



56 HOMILIES ON 

To shew the design of these festivals, Moses, 
when in the name of God he enjoined the re- 
ligious observance of the paschal solemnity, thus 
addressed the Israelites: "When your children 
shall say to you, What is the meaning of this 
service ? You shall say to them, It is the victim 
of the passage of the Lord, when he passed over 
the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, 
striking the Egyptians, and saving our houses. 
This is the observable night of the Lord, when 
he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt : 
this night all the children of Israel must observe 
in their generations." Exodus xii. 26, 42. — To give 
glory to God, and instruction and edification to 
his people, was the intention with which the 
feasts of the old law were established by God 
himself. The Saints who lived under the Jewish 
dispensation, were careful to fulfil the duty thus 
enjoined them. It was on occasion of one of 
these festivals appointed by the law, that the 
holy Tobias made a feast in his own house, and 
invited some of his friends to partake of it. The 
piety of Tobias was not of that gloomy cast 
which forbids every kind of mirth, even such 
as is innocent, and throws an air of rigidness 
and despondency over religion, which serves to 
render it unamiable, if not disgusting. True 
piety is ever amiable and inviting. Though 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 57 

her seat is in the heart, yet she diffuses a sweet 
odour around her, and paints a joy upon the 
countenance, which bespeaks the tranquillity and 
peace that attend her throne. Tobias well knew 
that the principal design of the festivals of the 
law was to honour and praise the God of mercy, 
and was careful to spend in acts of religion the 
greater part of the days appointed to be kept 
holy. But he refused not the body it's proper 
share in these solemn rejoicings. By the in- 
nocent entertainment which he provided for his 
friends, he both testified the inward gratitude 
of his soul for the divine favours, and expressed 
his ardent wish that they also might join with 
him in the same pious dispositions. 

But, my beloved brethren, if the blessings 
appointed to be celebrated with yearly festivals 
in the old law, thus called for the praise and 
gratitude of the faithful servants of God, how 
infinitely more sublime and holy are the feasts 
of the Christian Church, and how infinitely 
more strict is the obligation, incumbent upon us, 
of manifesting our grateful praise and thanks- 
giving to that bounteous God, whose astonishing 
mercies we are on these occasions summoned 
to commemorate ! The blessings of the Jewish 
covenant were chiefly temporal blessings ; at the 
very best but types and shadows of the benefits 



58 HOMILIES ON 

poured out upon man under the Christian dis- 
pensation. We have witnessed God himself de- 
scending from heaven to become our Lawgiver, 
our Victim, our Redeemer, our Model, our 
Teacher, and our Guide. For us he clothed him- 
self with mortal flesh, led a life of humiliation 
and suffering ; for our example he practised the 
precepts which he had delivered, and first trode 
the path that is to conduct us to our true hap- 
piness ; for us he bled in the garden and on 
the cross ; for us he triumphed over death, rising 
glorious from the grave ; for us he ascended to 
his throne of everlasting glory, as our Leader 
and our Head, to prepare for us a mansion in 
the regions of bliss, that where he is we also 
may be; for us he poured forth his Holy 
Spirit on his Apostles, established his Church, 
the pillar and the ground of truth; for us he 
enriched her with the treasures of grace pur- 
chased by his blood; for us he has appointed 
on earth an emblem and a pledge of the eternal 
feast of love reserved for the elect, having, by 
an admirable abridgment of all his other won- 
ders, transformed himself into our food, that, 
entering into our breasts, he may transforni us 
into himself, and becoming one with us, may 
unite us to himself by an inconceivable union 
of love, which, beginning here, may continue 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 59 

throughout an eternity of bliss. Shall these his 
bounties ever be forgotten? Shall we ungrate- 
fully refuse him the slender return of our praise 
and thanksgiving? Shall we not raise up our 
voices to him on the throne of his glory, and 
sigh for the happy completion of his mercies, 
when, united to the choirs that incessantly adore 
him, we shall begin the song of praise that will 
never end? Oh! let us then begin upon earth 
this happy employment, which will one day 
form our only occupation in the kingdom of the 
blessed. " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may 
my right hand be forgotten." Psalm cxxxvi. If 
I forget thee, O my God and my Saviour; if 
I forget thy mercies, may my tongue cleave to 
my palate, and never more be loosed to sing 
thy praises ! — Let us, as becomes faithful children 
of the Church, religiously observe the days ap- 
pointed by her for the celebration of past 
mercies. 

Sensible of the weakness and ingratiude of 
human nature, and fearful lest you should be found 
wanting in one of the most important duties 
of a rational being and a Christian, the adoration, 
praise, and gratitude due to the Supreme Being, 
the Church yearly renews before your eyes 
the mysteries and blessings wrought by that 
God « who was made flesh and dwelt amongst 



60 HOMILIES ON 

us," to become our Instructor and our Redeemer. 
In the annual circle of her festivals, you behold 
the son of God born in a stable, submitting to 
the knife of circumcision, adored by the magi, 
conversing with men, insulted and condemned 
by his own creatures, expiring on a cross, rising 
from his tomb, ascending into heaven, sending 
down the Holy Ghost, and enabling twelve poor 
fishermen, in spite of the opposition of the 
world and the Devil, to establish and propagate 
his kingdom over the nations of the earth. 
Other festivals, such as the feasts of the Blessed 
Virgin, the Apostles, and principal Saints, are 
appointed by the Church as a yearly tribute of 
thanksgiving to God, to whose grace those his 
chosen servants were indebted for their sanctity 
and it's crown. How truly encouraging is the 
example afforded us on these festival days, of 
so many of our fellow-creatures rising superior 
to the weakness of human nature, trampling the 
vanities of the world under their feet, and 
triumphing over Satan, sin, and hell ! How con- 
soling, at the same time, is the reflection which 
the recurrence of these festivals awakens in our 
minds, of the communion we enjoy with these 
our fellow-members of the Church, who have 
already attained to the glorious consummation 
of their labours ! Secure of their own happiness, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 61 

they are now solicitous only for our welfare. 
Compassionating the frailties of our nature, and 
knowing the temptations and snares to which 
we, who are still sorrowing in this vale of tears, 
are exposed, while prostrate they adore the gra- 
cious Author of their own happiness, they pour 
forth their fervent supplications for us, petition- 
ing the God of mercy, through the merits of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to bestow 
upon us those graces that may enable us to walk 
in their footsteps during life, and in death may 
unite us with them in a participation of im- 
mortal glory. Such is the doctrine, my be- 
loved brethren, of the communion of Saints, a 
doctrine inculcated and practised in every age 
since the days of the Apostles ; inserted in the 
creed, or abridgment of Christian faith, which 
those very Apostles framed. — But I shall not 
enlarge further upon this point at present. I 
shall content myself with observing, that whether 
we consider the festival days of the Church as 
recalling to our mind the mysteries wrought by 
the Blessed Trinity for our redemption and sanc- 
tification, or as placing before our eyes the ex- 
amples of those of our fellow-members who have 
already arrived at their crown, nothing will 
more powerfully aid us in our endeavours to 
lead a virtuous life,, and in attaining to the end 



6& HOMILIES ON 

of our being in the joys of heaven, than to cele- 
brate with fidelity, and in the real spirit of the 
Church, the feasts appointed by her. The holy- 
days of obligation are few in number, yet, through 
the sloth and insensibility of Christians, strangely 
neglected. It is a duty of strict obligation on 
those days to abstain from servile work, and to 
assist with attention and devotion at the adorable 
sacrifice of the mass. Sometimes indeed it may 
happen, that a reasonable plea of necessity may 
prevent the fulfilment of this duty. But with 
those who truly desire to serve God here, and to 
enjoy him hereafter, how very seldom is this the 
case. Perhaps you will tell me. that you see 
great numbers of Catholics, who, on these days, 
without any scruple, follow their usual employ- 
ment, and absent themselves from mass. I know, 
dear Christians, and I lament that the number 
of those who thus transgress their duty on the 
feasts of the Church, is great. But I know also 
what will be the sentiments of these unhappy 
Christians at the moment of death, and when 
they shall stand trembling at the judgment-seat 
of their Saviour. I have witnessed the anguish 
of soul with which the sinner, at the awful hour 
of his departure, has been overwhelmed, from the 
recollection of his criminal neglect of these and 
the like important duties. Melancholy was the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 63 

scene; and may the God of mercy grant that 
you may never exhibit so sad and mournful a 
spectacle in your dying moments ! May you, my 
beloved brethren, be partakers of that joy and 
consolation, which the memory of their past fide- 
lity in the practice of their religious duties dif- 
fuses over the death-bed of the servants of God ! 
But let it then be your care during life to imi- 
tate this their fidelity. On the solemn festivals 
of the Church abstain from work, and assist at 
the holy sacrifice of the altar. Let nothing but 
real necessity excuse you from the fulfilment of 
this obligation ; and when such necessity does 
occur, obtain the sanction of your pastor for being 
dispensed from the observance of this duty. Let 
your care on this point extend to all under your 
charge, and see that your respective families are 
punctual in complying with the precept of the 
Church on these days. Bring them with you to 
the house of God, watch over their conduct 
during the time of divine sendee, and dedicate 
some portion of time on the festivals to their 
religious instruction. If your distance from cha- 
pel prevents your attending a second time on 
these days at the public service of the Church, 
fail not to sanctify at least one hour of the after- 
noon, by calling your family to prayer, and the 
hearing of the word of God. Be not afraid that 



64 HOMILIES ON 

your faithfully giving these days to the duties 
of religion will be any injury to your temporal 
concerns. Such fear is unworthy of a Christian 
soul ; it becomes only the breast of an infidel, 
who either disbelieves the existence of an all-just 
and good Providence, or knows nothing of the 
promises which God has made to those who faith- 
fully serve him. Have you ever beheld the 
Catholic that neglected his religious duties suc- 
cessful in his worldly business ? or, if you have, 
did you not at the same time see his riches prove 
a curse to himself and his family ? Oh ! believe 
me, my beloved brethren, the only method to 
secure that blessing from above which will give 
success to both your temporal and eternal con- 
cerns, is to be faithful in the service of your 
Creator, to give to him that which belongs to 
him, and to observe religiously the days devoted 
by the Church, to the praise and adoration of the 
bounteous Giver of all good gifts. Having then, 
on these days, given a proper portion of time to 
the fulfilment of the duties which I have pointed 
out to you, take your amusement ; but let it be 
such, that while it proves a relaxation of mind 
and body, it may not tarnish the innocence of 
your souls. Like the good Tobias, prepare, if you 
please, a feast for your friends, and manifest the 
inward joy of your heart by the outward pleasure 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 65 

with which you entertain your acquaintance, and 
the innocent mirth that seasons your conversa- 
tion. But, like the same holy man, select your 
friends from among those who fear God, whose 
discourse will be edifying, and whose example 
will powerfully incite you to the practice of vir- 
tue. Of the weighty influence of good example; 
Tobias is a striking proof. At first he stood aicne 
in the path of virtue ; but his good life, his acts 
of charity, and his holy conversation, soon made 
an impression upon the hearts of those who were 
more intimately acquainted with his merit. They 
forsook both the company and the manners of 
the idolaters ; they attached themselves closely to 
Tobias, and endeavoured faithfully to copy the 
bright pattern of virtue which he set before them. 
With these holy persons, therefore, Tobias asso- 
ciated ; these he made witnesses and partakers of 
the entertainment which he had provided for the 
celebration of the Lord's festival, of the inward 
joy which he derived from the testimony of a 
good conscience, and of the heartfelt cheerfulness 
with which he sacrificed every earthly satisfaction 
to the lasting pleasure arising from acts of charity 
and virtue. Here then- my beloved brethren, is a 
model for yourselves in the choice of your com- 
pany and amusements on the days consecrated to 
God's service. Be not of the number of those 
who give one half of these days to God, and the 

F 



66 HOMILIES ON 

other half to the devil ; who in the morning are 
found in the temple of the Deity among his 
adorers, in the evening are to be met with in 
the house of Satan, in the company of his votaries, 
witnesses at least, if not actually partakers, of the 
scenes of drunkenness, gaming, and lewd and 
wicked discourse, which too generally reign in 
the ale-house and the tavern. Perhaps you may 
flatter yourselves, that, because you do not ac- 
tually join in the above crimes, there is nothing 
essentially wrong in your spending now and then 
a few hours in the places and in the company 
to which I allude. But do not thus delude your- 
selves. If, under the influence of this deceitful 
sentiment, you thus without scruple frequent the 
resorts and the society of the wicked, the enemy 
of your souls has you much more securely in his 
possession than if he were to lead you to the 
commission of some enormous sin. You stand 
on the brink of a precipice, and you know it not ; 
you hold by the hand those who are actually 
tumbling down the steep, and do you flatter 
yourselves with safety ? Were the devil to solicit 
you, or even prevail upon you, to consent to some 
grievous sin, your situation would not be half 
so dangerous. Your eyes would then open to 
the sight of your misery, and you would fly to 
repentance for refuge and protection. But in 
leading you into the society of the drunkard, the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS 67 

impure, the swearer, and the libertine, Satan 
treacherously robs you of the fruit of your prayers 
and religious exercises, makes you his instruments 
in bringing a scandal upon your faith ; and in thus 
rendering you the cause of hindering the salva- 
tion of others, deprives you of the graces of God, 
and links you in bands of friendship with those 
% who are enemies of the cross of Christ, who 
glory in what ought to be a subject of shame 
and confusion to them, and w r hose end is eternal 
destruction." Phil. iii. 1 8. — -Oh ! fly then, my be- 
loved brethren, these pernicious haunts of vice, 
these houses of sin ; and shun that fatal bane of 
souls, evil company. Choose for your friends and 
familiars those who fear God, with whom you may 
go hand in hand in the practice of virtue, and 
with whom you may reasonably hope that you 
shall one day be found at the right-hand of the 
Sovereign Judge in the day of final retribution. 

Tobias had sent his son to invite his friends to 
join with him in celebrating the festival of the 
Lord, 

Vet. 3. And, (continues the sacred text,) when he had gone, 
returning, he told him that one of the children of Israel lay 
slain in the street. And he (Tobias) forthwith leaped up 
from his place at the table, and left his dinner, and came 
fasting to the body. ...... 4. And taking it up, carried it pri- 

F 2 



68 HOMILIES ON 

vately to his house, that after the sun was down, he might 

bury him cautiously 5. And when he had hid the body, 

he ate bread with mourning and fear 6. Remembering 

the word which the Lord spoke by Amos the prophet : Your 
festival days shall be turned into lamentation and mourning. 

Who can refuse the tribute of praise and admi- 
ration to the charity of Tobias ? With him every 
thing gives place to duty. The call of charity 
finds him ever ready and cheerfully obedient. 
Neither company nor amusement, neither the 
call of hunger nor the fear of punishment, can 
prevent the good Tobias from exercising the works 
of mercy. One of his countrymen had been mur- 
dered, and his body lay in the streets unburied. 
Tobias had already exposed himself to death by 
undertaking the same charitable office of buiying 
the dead. Yet, unmoved by fear or any worldly 
consideration, he leaves his meal and the company 
of his friends, and going to the dead body, takes 
it upon his shoulders and brings it to his house, 
intending to commit it to the earth in the dusk 
of the evening, that his charity might escape the 
observation of his enemies. The sight of the dead 
body of one of his countrymen who had thus 
on a sudden been deprived of life, rilled the holy 
man with the deepest affliction. But being ac- 
customed to regard every thing that happens as 
appointed by an all-wise Providence, and to turn 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 69 

every circumstance of life into a source of virtue 
and of merit, Tobias, on this melancholy occa- 
sion, recalled to mind the words which God had 
spoken by Amos the prophet, threatening his 
people, that, in punishment of their crimes, their 
festivals should be turned into days of lamenta- 
tion and mourning. He accepted, therefore, of his 
present affliction in a spirit of resignation and 
penance, and offered it up an agreeable sacrifice 
to the Almighty, to draw down mercy upon him- 
self and his afflicted countrymen. This his con- 
duct points out other exercises of piety, by which 
you may sanctify the Sundays and holydays of 
obligation. It shews that acts of penance and 
charity, which are at all times highly pleasing 
to God, are particularly acceptable to him on the 
days dedicated to his service. 

Having then shewn you the intention of the 
Church of God in appointing her annual circle of 
festivals ; that she designs to renew before your 
eyes the memory of past mercies, to aid you in 
the important duty of praising, adoring, and 
thanking the Author of all good, and in im- 
ploring fresh favours from his bounty ; that for 
your encouragement and assistance in the path 
of virtue, she presents you with the example 
of the Saints who are gone before you, and are 
now your intercessors in heaven ; I conjure you, 
my beloved brethren, as you value your eternal 

F 3 



TO 



HOMILIES, ke. 



welfare, faithfully to fulfil the precept of the 
Church in the religious observance of her feasts. 
Abstain on those days from servile work, assist 
devoutly at mass, instruct your families, seek the 
company of the virtuous, exercise the works of 
mercy, and accompany these holy actions with 
acts of penance and contrition, mourning over 
your past sins. This is that mourning of which 
it is said, " blessed are they that mourn, for they 
shall be comforted:" comforted with peace of 
mind here, and the blessings of eternal peace 
hereafter. 




SIXTH HOMILY, 



ap. II. ver.'f. So when tlie sun was down, he went and 
buried him 8. Now all his neighbours blamed him, say- 
ing : Once already commandment was given for thee to be 
slain because of this matter, and thou didst scarce escape the 

sentence of death, and dost thou again bury the dead? 

9. But Tobias, fearing God more than the king, carried off 
the bodies of them that were slain, and hid them in his house, 
and at midnight buried them. 

MJ or the trial of the virtue of the servants of 
God, a strange variety of dangers and temptations 
are permitted, by an all-wise Providence, to assail 
them during the short time of their mortal pil- 
grimage. Among these trials, my beloved bre- 
thren, there is hardly any one which proves a 
more serious obstacle in their progress towards 
perfection, or which more frequently induces 
those who have begun to labour for their salva- 
tion, to abandon their undertaking, than human 
respects, or a fear of what the world will say of 
them. What the enemy of man cannot compass 
by his own arts and malice, he too often succeeds 
in accomplishing by some of our unhappy fellow- 
creatures, who act as his agents in seducing or 
deterring others from the practice of virtue. 

F4 



m 



7% HOMILIES OK 

Wlien his other weapons have failed, the infernal 
spirit attacks the followers of the Gospel with 
the ridicule and reproofs of worldlings, and by 
this means he too often succeeds in undermining 
their piety. Many who would have nobly braved 
the severest tortures for their faith ; who had in 
fact already triumphed over the rudest assaults 
of that most fierce and dangerous enemy, the 
flesh ; who had edified the world by their virtue, 
and laid up a rich store of merit for eternal life ; 
have shrunk before the taunts and ridicule of 
pretended friends, and, for fear of being blamed 
or laughed at by the giddy followers of the world, 
have abandoned the path of virtue. Like the 
opening bud of some tender flower, broken from 
it's stem by the rude wintry storm, their virtue 
sinks before the chilling blast of worldly ridicule, 
and dies. Or it may be said to resemble a tree, 
which, after being clothed with rich blossoms, 
withers before the worm that gnaws at it's root. 
Thousands of unhappy mortals, who had begun 
the career of virtue, and felt within themselves 
a desire of eternal life, have been suddenly stop- 
ped in the midst of their progress, because the 
world has branded their piety with the imputa- 
tion of folly, and assailed them with it's sneers 
and it's censures. Some indeed struggle for 
awhile against the torrent that opposes them ; 
but tired of the toil, at length cease all opposition, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 73 

•and are carried off by the violence of the stream 
into the gulph of eternal perdition. IVJelancholy 
indeed is the reflection excited by a contempla- 
tion of the dreadful havock of souls, which is thus 
made by a foolish fear of the ridicule of the world. 
But how far more melancholy will be the thoughts 
that will one day rack those very souls that have 
been thus seduced and cheated of their crown. 
To think' that they once enjoyed the near pros- 
pect of eternal bliss, and for the paltry considera- 
tion of screening themselves from the sneers of 
deluded worldlings, suffered themselves to be rob 
bed of the fruit of their past virtues, and con- 
sented to take up their portion in everlasting 
misery — Oh ! how cutting will be the reflection ! 

Few, my beloved brethren, few are those, who, 
like the good Tobias, set the laughter and con- 
tempt of the w r orld at defiance ; whose virtue 
rises superior to every human consideration. You 
have seen, and you have admired the fidelity with 
which that holy servant of God persevered in the 
steady practice of virtue, and more particularly 
in the exercise of the works of mercy. His earth- 
ly sovereign threatened him with death, if he 
pursued his usual charity of burying the dead. 
Of his worldly friends, some reproved him for 
exposing his life to danger by continuing that 
holy office, while others laughed at his piety, and 
ridiculed it under the appellation of folly. But 



74 



HOMILIES ON 



neither threats nor allurements, neither contempt 
nor reproof, could shake his resolution, or weaken 
his attachment to virtue. He loved God with 
all his strength and with all his soul. To serve 
his Creator faithfully in this life, and enjoy him 
eternally in the next, was the only object of his 
affections and desires ; and rather than go astray 
the least step from the path of virtue, or run 
the danger of losing the favour of his God, and 
the promised reward of bliss, he was ready at any 
hour to resign his life. Oh ! undaunted con- 
stancy ! Oh ! admirable fortitude of soul ! The 
more admirable, because the graces and helps to 
heaven were not so plentifully diffused upon man- 
kind under the Jewish dispensation,, as they are 
in the law of Christ ; examples of perfection were 
then more rare, and the path to happiness not 
so clearly marked out, and trodden but by few. 
Tobias feared God more than the power of the 
king, or the reproofs of worldly friends ; and with 
unshaken fidelity and perseverance, fulfilled his 
usual exercises of piety and mercy. Let the like 
unwearied constancy mark your steps in the path 
of virtue. Frequently recall to your minds, for 
your encouragement under difficulties and trials, 
the example of this holy man, and of other ser- 
vants of God, particularly of the first Christians, 
who were exposed, on account of the practice of 
their religion, to those dreadful persecutions which 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 75 

the infernal enemy of man's salvation raised, and 
continued for more than three centuries against 
the Church. Your situation in many respects 
resembles that of the first professors of Christi- 
anity. The slanders thrown upon the Catholic 
faith in these our days, are little else but a repeti- 
tion of the calumnies heaped upon it at that 
early period; except that the authors of them 
are no longer heathens, but men who profess to 
believe in Christianity, and who, it is to be 
feared, will consequently be less excusable in the 
divine sight. It is not, however, so much against 
their slanderous attacks of your faith that I now 
wish to put you on your guard, as against the 
less open though more dangerous snare for your 
virtue, to be met with in the evil example, the 
sneers, or the ridicule of those who, while they 
bear the name of Christian, lead unchristian lives ; 
and acting as instruments of the devil in under- 
mining your virtue, will seek to laugh you out 
q{ the practice of religion. But, " be ye not 
afraid of men, who at most can hurt your bodies 
only ; fear ye Him, who hath power to cast both 
body and soul into hell." Matt. x. 28. Impress 
upon your minds that declaration of your Re- 
deemer, " if any man be ashamed of me and of 
my words, of him shall the Son of Man be 
ashamed, when he shall come in majesty to judge 
the world." But if ye confess him before mem 



?6 HOMILIES ON 

by a steady adherence to his faith and precepts 
in the practice of your lives, he will confess you 
before his Father, he will acknowledge you as 
his true disciples, and confirm your title to the 
everlasting reward which awaits those who have 
faithfully followed him. When deluded world- 
lings attempt to seduce you from the way of 
virtue, by branding your strict attention to yQiir 
religious duties with the name of folly, or by 
ridiculing your piety, arm yourselves against their 
artful and malicious attacks, by the thought of 
what will one day be your sentiments at the 
judgment-seat of Jesus Christ. Oh ! how dread- 
ful will be the remorse which will then over- 
whelm your souls, if you shall be found to have 
deserted the path of virtue, and voluntarily have 
consented to your own eternal destruction, through 
a foolish dread of incurring the displeasure of 
your fellow-creatures. Learn then, with the good 
Tobias, to despise both the threats and the allure- 
ments of the world, and to pursue with un- 
daunted constancy the practice of virtue, under 
whatever trials and difficulties you may meet 
with in the faithful discharge of your duty. The 
servants of God, so far from being exempt from 
tribulation, are, from the very circumstance of 
their lives being so directly opposite to those 
of the generality of men, more certain to be ex- 
posed to a greater share of it than others. The 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 77 

trials 'which in the hand of an all-wise Provi- 
dence are a scourge to the wicked, bring - the 
virtues of his servants to their highest degree of 
perfection in this life, and exalt them in the 
next world to their crown of- glory. God no 
where promises temporal peace and prosperity as 
the portion of those who engage in his service ; 
but, on the contrary, has expressly forewarned 
them, " that all they who would live godlily in 
Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution." While 
some of the trials that befall the servants of God 
arise from the malice of the wicked, who are 
permitted to live, either that they themselves 
may repent, or that by them the just may be 
exercised in the virtues of patience and resigna- 
tion ; other tribulations are expressly sent them 
by the hand of the Almighty, for the perfection 
of their virtue. - Of the latter truth, the history 
of the holy Tobias is now going to present you 
with a most edifying example. 

Ver. 10. Now it happened one day, that being wearied with 
burying, Tobias came to his house, and cast himself down 

by the wall and slept, 11. And as he was sleeping, hot 

dung out of a swallow's nest fell upon his eyes, and he was 
made blind 12. Now this trial the Lord therefore per- 
mitted to happen to him, that an example might be given to 
posterity of his patience, as of holy Job. 

The short view, which I have in the preceding 



78 Homilies on 

instructions set before you, of the virtues of 
Tobias, must have impressed you, my beloved 
brethren, with a thorough conviction of his being 
truly a just man, whose life was full of good 
works. True to his character of a servant of 
God, he presents, in every circumstance of his 
history, a model of perfection. You have be- 
held him from his youth faithful in the obser- 
vance of the divine laws ; carefully shunning the 
contagion of evil company ; sanctifying the most 
ordinary actions and employments of his life by 
a spirit of piety, and a recollection of the divine 
word ; bringing up his son in the fear of God ; 
full of charity for his fellow-sufferers, cheer- 
fully exercising the works of mercy towards 
them during their life, and after their death; 
in fine, you have seen him generously sacrificing 
every earthly consideration rather than omit the 
doing of a good action ; and exposing himself 
to the danger of losing his property, and even 
life itself, rather than not obey the call of charity. 
His enemies threatened him with death as the 
recompense of his mercy ; his friends accused 
him of rashness and folly ; but Tobias, listening 
only to the voice of conscience and of duty, and 
fearing God more than men, continued his ex- 
ercises of charity, avoiding on the one hand, the 
neglect of duty from any human respects, and 
on the other, all wilful and unnecessary exposing 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 79 

of himself to danger, burying the dead in the 
-silence of the night, to prevent his acts of mercy 
from being discovered by his enemies. Such is 
a short sketch of the virtuous life of Tobias. 
Who would not have expected, in return for 
a life so holy and edifying, to see his days blessed 
with an uninterrupted course of temporal pros- 
perity ? But, my beloved brethren, the reward 
of the servants of God is not to be looked for 
in the short duration of their mortal existence. 
Their recompense is reserved for eternity, where 
they will reap the fruit of their past fidelity 
in everlasting and unchangeable bliss. The Saints, 
placing their whole heart and affections on the 
good things of a future state, look for humi- 
liations and afflictions as their portion in this 
world, knowing that they must first learn to 
suffer with their Redeemer, if they would reign 
with him in glory. 

After many years of a life spent in the faithful 
performance of every good work, Tobias, while 
resting from the fatigues brought upon him by 
burying the dead, is struck with blindness. The 
occasion of this affliction in the eyes of worldlings 
would be viewed as a mere accident, as a thing 
happening by chance. Eut the Christian, whose 
faith teaches him that the same Almighty hand 
which framed the world, rules and governs it, 
believes, as a most undoubted truth, that nothing, 



80 



HOMILIES ON 



excepting sin, happens in the universe but by 
the express order and will of God. There is no 
such thing as chance : God has regulated and 
appointed all things from eternity. Even the 
very hairs of our head are all numbered by him, 
and not one of them falleth to the ground with- 
out his will and permission. The order of his 
Providence is not confined to us, it extends to 
the whole of his creatures. Not a blade of grass 
springs up in the fields, not a leaf moves, nor a 
branch decays on the trees, but by his divine 
permission. In whatever, therefore, befalls us, 
under the severest afflictions and the most dis- 
heartening trials, it is not to chance, nor the 
mere malice of men, that we are to look as the 
cause of our sufferings ; but in these occurrences, 
no less than in our greatest prosperities, we are 
to view the hand of that God who ordains and 
sweetly disposes all things for the good of his 
servants. This truth, the knowledge of which 
is of so much consequence, both for our present 
and future welfare, is clearly pointed out to us, 
and exemplified in the blindness that befell Tobias. 
The holy fcripture expressly tells us, that the 
Lord permitted this trial to happen to him for 
the perfection of his virtue, and that he might 
shine to future ages, like another Job, a bright 
pattern of patience and resignation to the divine 
will. With what admirable humility and sub- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 81 

mission did the holy Tobias embrace the appoint- 
ment of heaven ! For, says the sacred text, 

Ver.-13. Whereas he had always feared God from his infancy, 
and kept his commandments, he repined not against God, 

because the evil of blindness had befallen him 14. But 

continued immoveable in the fear of God, giving thanks to 

God all the days of his life c 15. For as the kings in? 

suited over holy Job, so his relations and kinsmen mocked 

at his life, saying; 16. Where is thy hope, for which 

thou gavest alms, and buriedst the dead? 17- But 

Tobias rebuked them, saying, speak not so: ...... 18. For 

we are the children of saints, and look for that life which 
God will give to them that never change their faith from 
him. 

To what a height of perfection, my beloved 
brethren, are the knowledge and practice of this 
truth, that nothing happens but by the order of 
divine Providence, capable of raising the soul 
of man ! Tobias in his affliction rises superior to 
human nature, and manifests a virtue worthy of 
a higher order of beings, a virtue truly angelical. 
The blessed spirits above know ho other occupation 
than to adore and execute the will of God ; and 
the Saints who are one day to be united with 
them in bliss, know no other happiness here on 
earth than to embrace and accomplish the divine 
will in all its appointments. The consideration 
of the will of heaven animates them with courage 

G 



82 



HOMILIES ON 



in the hour of trial, covers them with an im- 
pregnable shield in the day of dinger, lightens 
their burdens, sooths their afflictions, softens their 
persecutions, and turns what the world calls 
misery into a source of merit and of sweet tran- 
quillity here, and of infinite rewards hereafter. 
Among the ordinary evils that attend the life 
of man upon earth, we can scarcely conceive a 
more heavy affliction than that which befell 
Tobias. The loss of his sight was to him a 
double distress ; it not only prevented him from 
fulfilling the common occupations of life, but 
debarred him from exercising his usual works 
of mercy, in seeking for objects of charity, and 
in burying the dead. To this severe trial was 
added another equally, or perhaps more, painful, 
the ungrateful and uncharitable behaviour of 
those who called themselves his friends. Instead 
of pouring the balm of consoling words into his 
afflicted soul, and endeavouring to lighten his 
sorrows, they insulted him, they reviled him, 
and ridiculed his past life of virtue. Void of 
all true sentiments of piety themselves, they 
would, if possible, have rooted such sentiments 
from the breast of Tobias, and thus have de- 
prived him of what was then his only comfort — 
the testimony of a good conscience as to his 
past life, and his confidence in the divine friend- 
ship and protection. A similar aggravation of 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS*. S3 

his affliction had happened ages before to holy- 
Job, who, when insulted by his friends, and 
tempted by his wife to blaspheme the God of 
heaven and put an end to his existence, bore 
ail insults with patience, rejected the solicitations 
of his wife with horror, and, under the heaviest 
distress that ever fell to the lot of man, pre- 
served unshaken his fidelity to God, and even 
blessed and praised the hand that afflicted him. 
Like that holy man, Tobias, in his blindness, 
continued immoveable in the fear of God, and 
the practice of virtue. Unable any longer to 
exercise his accustomed outward acts of charity, 
he redoubled the interior homage of his heart 
to the Supreme Being, and dedicated his time 
to the acceptable duty of praise and thanksgiving 
for past favours, and fervent supplications for a 
continuance of divine grace. When his worldly- 
friends, whose hopes extended not beyond the 
grave, and whose affections were placed solely 
upon earthly blessings, mocked his past virtues, 
and insultingly asked him, where was now his hope* 
and what was the fruit of all the toils and dangers 
to which he had exposed himself in the path of 
virtue? the servant of God rebuked them with 
meekness, saying : " Speak not so ; for we are the 
children of Saints, and look for that life which 
God will give to them that never change their 
faith from him." As if this holy man had said 

G2 



B4 HOMILIES ON 

to them: Look at the lives of the ancient pa- 
triarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom we 
call our fathers. Those venerable servants of 
God, considering themselves as only strangers 
and pilgrims on this earth, fixed their hearts on 
the blessings promised in a future state. During 
their mortal life, the will of God was their only 
guide in all their actions ; in obedience to his 
will, they cheerfully submitted to the portion 
of trials annexed to their earthly pilgrimage, 
looking forward to the recompense of their virtue 
in that eternal life which God will bestow upon 
those who never lose their faith in him ; but 
with a full confidence in his power and mercy, 
persevere to the end of their lives in his service. 

Such, dear Christians, were the admirable sen- 
timents of piety which animated and consoled 
the virtuous Tobias in the heavy trial which 
had befallen him. He submitted with humble 
resignation to the appointment of heaven, and 
this submission rilled him with present comfort 
and with future hope. As the glory of God 
had ever been the object of all his actions, so 
the accomplishment of the divine will was the 
object of his desires and affections. By his strict 
fidelity in the divine service from his youth, 
he had secured to himself those graces which 
now enabled him to meet his severe trials with 
patience, and turn them into a source of ever- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 85 

lasting happiness. Oh! cherish then in your 
souls the spirit of this holy man, and imitate 
his steady attachment to virtue. Let no human 
considerations, nor a fear of what the world 
may say of you, deter you from the practice 
of virtue. Remember that your business in 
in this life is to serve God. Let his will then 
be the rule of all your actions. Seek first the 
kingdom of God and his justice; sanctifying 
all the employments of your lives by doing 
them with a view to please God, and to gain 
eternal life. Consider whatever befalls you as 
ordained by an all-wise Providence for your 
good, and be cheerfully resigned to his holy 
will, even under the greatest crosses and dis- 
appointments. Then will you truly love God 
above all things, when you shall have no other 
will but his. This conformity to the divine 
will, is that charity of which the Apostle says, 
that " it is the bond of perfection." Tongues 
shall cease ; prophecies shall be made void ; faith 
shall no longer be necessary, when the soul shall 
see her God face to face ; hope shall be swal- 
lowed up in enjoyment; but charity, the love 
of God and of his will, never faileth, but will con- 
tinue throughout an eternity of bliss, that happy 
union of will and affection which even in this life 
subsists between God and his servants. Amen. 

G3 



SEVENTH HOMILY. 



Chap. II. ver. 19. Now Anna his wife went daily to weaving 
work, and she brought home what she could get for their 

living, by the labour of her hands 20. Whereby it 

came to pass, that she received a young kid, and brought 

it home 21. And when her husband heard it bleating, 

he said : Take heed lest perhaps it be stolen ; restore it to 
it's owner, for it is not lawful for us either to eat or to touch 
any thing that cometh by theft. 



$omttg* 

HIT servants of God, in a state of affliction and 
trial, are compared by the holy Scripture to gold 
jri the furnace. For as gold by passing through 
the fire loses nothing of it's own substance, but 
being by this operation cleansed from every particle 
of dross that adhered to it, comes forth from the 
furnace more bright and more valuable than it 
was before ; so, my beloved brethren, the virtues 
of the Saints receive a new lustre from the per- 
secutions of the world, and the afflictions of this 
life ; are separated from all dross of earthly af- 
fection, and are crowned with a much higher 
degree of merit, as to eternal life. The character 
of the holy Tobias, which in time of prosperity 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 87 

appeared so edifying, shone forth with much 
greater splendour in the afflicting state of blind- 
ness and poverty, to which Providence had re- 
duced him. This severe trial stamped his virtues 
with the seal of heaven, and made it manifest 
to the world that his good works were not 
performed from any human motive, or a view 
to any earthly advantage, but from a pure love 
of God, and a desire of eternal life. This holy 
man, who, by the blessing of Providence, and 
the favour of his earthly sovereign, had lately 
enjoyed the truly enviable happiness of being 
enabled to dispense large alms to his distressed 
countrymen, was now, by the permission of the 
same all- wise Providence, reduced to want. The 
holy Scripture does not inform us by what 
means Tobias became poor; but his stock of 
money was exhausted too suddenly to be imme- 
diately replaced. It is true he had lent a con- 
siderable sum to his countryman Gabelus ; but 
as he had no longer the liberty of going whither- 
soever he pleased, he could not at present re- 
cover it. In addition, therefore, to the severe 
affliction of the loss of sight, Tobias found him- 
self forced to struggle with another hardship, that 
of poverty. The world looks upon poverty as 
one of the worst of the evils that can befall man 
in this life. But the Saints, who view things 
through a very different medium from that in 

G4 



88 HOMILIES OK 

which the followers of the world behold the 
objects that surround them, withdrawing their 
heart and affections from all the transitory ad- 
vantages of this life, fix them upon those eternal 
blessings which are alone worthy of the soul of 
man. Casting all their care, as to worldly goods, 
upon that bountiful God whom they serve, and 
who ordains all things for the good of his ser- 
vants, they embrace with equal cheerfulness all 
the appointments of his holy will, whether as to 
riches or poverty, prosperity or adversity. If 
Providence blesses them with abundance, know- 
ing the danger of riches, a fatal source of per- 
dition to thousands, and remembering that they 
are only stewards of the great and Sovereign 
Lord of all, they distribute them in acts of mercy 
to their fellow-creatures, and thus turn the cor- 
ruptible riches of this earth into solid and never- 
failing treasures for eternity. Careful not to 
set their affections upon worldly riches, they 
use their possessions as if they used them not, 
preserving their hearts totally disengaged from 
all misplaced attachment to them, and living 
in the disposition of being willing to part from 
them, whenever such shall be the will of Provi- 
dence. Hence, if the Almighty visits them with 
poverty, being fully assured that all his dispen- 
sations are designed for their future good, they 
bow with cheerful submission to the divine will, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 89 

being confident that he who feeds the birds 
of the air, and clothes the lilies of the field, will 
provide them with the necessaries of this life, 
more than which they neither ask nor desire. 
It is thus that the servants of God, under the 
severest hardships and trials, enjoy a happiness 
which the followers of the world in vain attempt 
to find in the attainment of earthly emoluments. 

Of the above truths, the conduct of Tobias, 
during his blindness and poverty, is a striking 
and at the same time an edifying proof. Though 
deprived of his possessions, and what was still 
more valuable, his sight, he murmurs not against 
heaven, nor loses his confidence in the Almighty, 
but professes himself a child and a follower of 
the ancient patriarchs, who looked for their 
happiness and their reward in a future state. — 
As Tobias, in consequence of his blindness, was 
unable to work for his bread, his wife every 
day strove by the labour of her own hands to sup- 
port herself and her afflicted husband. What 
she earned by her employment of weaving cloth 
during the day, she carefully brought home in 
the evening. It happened on one occasion that 
she brought with her a young kid, w T hich she 
had received either as a part of her pay, or as 
a present over and above what was the price of 
her labour. Her husband hearing the animal 
bleating, said to her, "Take heed, lest perhaps 



90 HOMILIES. ON 

it be stolen : restore it to it's owner, for it is not 
lawful for us either to eat or to touch any thing 
that cometh by theft." — Tobias meant not by these 
words to accuse his wife of the crime of theft ; 
but, fearing lest the poverty to which they 
were now reduced, might have weakened her 
principles of honesty, or induced her to accept 
of a present from some one who had not the 
right authority to give it, he recalled to her mind 
the maxims of the divine law, which forbids, 
not only the actual commission of theft, but 
also all participation in the fruits of injustice. 
In the divine oracles there is nothing superfluous. 
The circumstance now under our consideration, 
is in it's outward appearance trilling and un- 
important; but within is full of useful instruc- 
tion. It serves to give us a much clearer insight 
into the character of Tobias; it shews us the 
extent of his virtue, and how deeply the prin- 
ciples of justice and integrity were implanted 
in his heart. Many of the Jews, indeed the 
far greater part of them, being what is called 
carnal-minded, looked no farther than the out- 
ward letter of the law of God, either as to it's 
precepts or it's promises. As their hearts were 
fixed upon earthly objects, they observed the 
ordinances of the law solely with a view to tem- 
poral prosperity; and having no better motive 
to influence .them, it is no wonder that they 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 91 

confined their observance of the law to the mere 
letter of the precept They carefully abstained 
from theft, but at the same time indulged with- 
out scruple in many other crying sins of injustice ; 
all of them branches of the same crime of theft, 
and aU equally contrary to the love of their 
neighbour. Provided that their lives were not 
stained with any of the grosser sorts of crimes, 
expressly forbidden by the words of the com- 
mandments, they were satisfied ; they concluded 
themselves favourites and friends of God, and 
in this character looked with confidence for 
temporal riches, as the reward of what they 
deemed to be fidelity in the divine service. 
Thus framing to themselves a false conscience, 
they passed their lives under the influence of 
it's delusive guidance, profoundly ignorant of 
many of their most important obligations, and 
consequently living in the constant violation of 
some of their strictest duties. Nor did the 
delusion end till death opened the eyes of their 
soul, and they found themselves stationed at that 
awful tribunal where the actions of mankind 
are weighed, not in the deceitful scales of human 
justice, but in the unerring balance of the sanc- 
tuary. The acts of virtue upon which they 
built their claim to the favour of heaven, having 
been undertaken from the sordid motive of gain- 
ing human esteem or worldly riches, were then 



92 HOMILIES OK 

found to have received their reward in the ap- 
plause of men, or the temporal prosperity that had 
attended their mortal existence. But their ima- 
ginary virtues were not admitted as affording any 
title to eternal happiness, because they wanted 
that purity of intention, and were not done from 
that sincere love of God which alone stamps our 
actions w r ith real excellence, enrolls them in the 
rank of real virtues, and renders them deserving 
of eternal life. On the other hand, when the 
false conscience under which the carnal-minded 
Jew had acted, was removed, and the divine law 
appeared to him, not as interpreted according to 
the suggestions of self-love, but agreeably to the 
dictates of eternal truth and justice, the violations 
of duty in which he had lived without scruple 
would overwhelm him with confusion, and prove 
his eternal condemnation. Such was the state of 
the carnal-minded Jew, who looked no farther 
than the letter of the divine law. 

Before I contrast with his conduct the character 
of the spiritual Jew, or real child of Abraham 
and faithful servant of God, I conjure you, my 
beloved brethren, to give me your most serious 
attention while I point out to you a certain 
description of Christians, whose condition in many 
respects resembles that of the carnal-minded Jews. 
I mean those whose lives are under the influence 
of the fatal vice of lukewarmness or tepidity. 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 93 

This vice is a rock upon which thousands of un- 
happy mortals are shipwrecked, whose lives are 
unstained with any very gross crimes, and con- 
sequently appear virtuous and edifying in the 
eyes of the world. Almighty God declares that 
he will not accept of a divided heart. Our whole 
being, both soul and body, belongs to him upon 
the most just of titles, and he therefore requires 
that our whole being should be faithfully dedi- 
cated to his service. The lukewarm or tepid 
Christian, is sensible indeed that he is placed in 
this world to serve God, and knows that if he 
does not serve him he must be miserable for 
eternity. Whatever, therefore, appears to him to 
be a duty of strict obligation, he carefully per- 
forms, and as carefully avoids whatever appears 1 
to him in the shape of a mortal sin. Further 
than this he goes not ; but flatters himself that 
he shall thus be enabled to depart this life in a 
state of grace, and escape the torments of hell. 
A fear of these torments, and not a sincere love 
of God or an ardent desire of eternal life, is the 
motive upon which he acts, both in abstaining 
from certain grievous crimes, and in discharging 
certain duties. As to heaven, it is seldom the 
object of his thoughts, much less of his affections. 
He endeavours to link together the service of 
God and of the world ; he indulges self-love in 
every thing that w r ears not the outward appear- 



94 



HOMILIES ON 



ance of a mortal sin ; but in order to pursue this 
indulgence without disquiet or remorse, too often 
puts a false interpretation upon the law of God, 
and frames to himself a false conscience, under 
cover of which he indulges in practices directly 
opposite to the divine commandments. As mor- 
tal sin is the only object which the lukewarm 
Christian dreads, he looks upon all those faults 
which he either knows or imagines to be venial, 
as of little consequence, and as being not at all 
dangerous. For example, knowing that it is a 
duty of strict obligation to assist on Sundays at 
the adorable sacrifice of the mass, he would not 
for the world absent himself from attending on 
that important duty. But as to the other duties 
of the Sunday, such as the being present during 
the sermon, and instructions at catechism, the 
attendance at the evening service of the Church, 
the instruction and spiritual welfare of his chil- 
dren and family ; these he considers as matters of 
no great consequence, and as inclination or com- 
pany suggests to him, omits them either entirely 
or in part. He makes no scruple of coming late 
to the house of God, and thinks nothing of the 
disrespect which by such conduct he shews to 
the Deity, and the disedifying example which he 
sets to his neighbour. He suffers any trifling 
excuse of business, company, or amusement, to 
put by the important duty of prayer, and the fre- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 95 

quenting of the sacraments at the regular times. 
In fine, the duties which he does outwardly dis- 
charge, his acts of virtue, his prayers, his con- 
fessions and communions, are undertaken from 
such defective motives, so void of a pure inten- 
tion, and performed in so cold, so negligent, and 
so distracted a manner, that the merit of them, 
if it be not totally destroyed, is at least consi- 
derably diminished. Divine grace is every day 
weakened, and the love of God, like a fire that 
wants a supply of fuel, gradually dies away in 
his soul. Thus the lukewarm Christian is con- 
stantly exposed to fall a prey to the snares of his 
spiritual enemies. Sometimes, indeed, he feels him- 
self checked by the reproaches of his conscience, 
and invited by the inspirations of grace, to greater 
fervour in the service of God. But being un- 
accustomed to any great labour or exertion in the 
path of virtue, he frames to himself a thousand 
difficulties in the way of perfection. At the same 
time he fondly persuades himself, that such labour 
and exertion are not of strict obligation, and after 
a few weak efforts to shake off the slothful lan- 
guor that oppresses his soul, he sinks still deeper 
in his habits of coldness and tepidity in the 
divine service. Add to this, that the lukewarm 
Christian, being under the guidance of a false con- 
science, framed according to the suggestions of a 
mistaken self-love, often imagines those transgres- 



96 



HOMILIES ON 



sions of the divine law to be only venial, which 
are in fact grievous violations of duty ; and thus, 
like the carnal-minded Jews, lives without re- 
morse in the habit of mortal sin, and dies in the 
same dreadful state. Foolishly relying upon cer- 
tain exterior good works, he fancies himself rich 
in merit for eternal life; till appearing before the 
judgment-seat of God, he finds himself poor and 
blind, and wretched, and miserable, and naked. 
Such, my beloved brethren, is the state of the 
lukewarm Christian. Can any situation be more 
truly deplorable, or more dangerous than his? 
No, believe me, there is no vice more disgusting 
in the sight of God, or more dangerous to the 
soul, than lukewarmness or tepidity. Or, if you 
will not believe me, believe the declarations of the 
Almighty himself, who thus addresses the tepid 
Christian : Apoc. iii. 14, " I would that thou wert 
either cold or hot; but because thou art luke- 
warm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to 
vomit thee out of my mouth : because thou say- 
est, I am rich and made wealthy, and have need 
of nothing; and thou knowest not that thou 
art wretched, and poor, and blind, and misera- 
ble." Miserable indeed is the lukewarm Christian, 
doubly miserable, because he is insensible of his 
wretched condition, and the danger that attends 
it. Most earnestly then,' do I conjure you, my 
beloved brethren, to shun this fatal snare for your 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 97 

virtue, by animating yourselves to fervour in the 
divine service, and making the glory of God the 
end of all your actions. That you may never 
through ignorance or a false conscience transgress 
the bounds of duty prescribed by the divine law, 
do not rest contented with having once learned the 
obligations of religion from your catechism or the 
instructions of your pastor. Make the study of 
religion a daily practice during the whole course 
of your lives. Seek instruction, by reading each 
day some pious book, and by diligently attending 
at the whole of divine service on Sundays and 
holydays. In each action of your lives, have in 
view the noble end of your being, and direct 
every circumstance of your existence to the at- 
tainment of that great end, carefully practising 
the advice of St. Paul : " All things whatsover ye 
do in word or in work, do all in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, by uniting the actions and sufferings 
of your lives to the merits of his death and pas- 
sion, and seeking in all things the glory of your 
heavenly Father." Let the maxims of the divine 
law be the rule not only of your actions but of 
your affections, and the desires of your hearts ; for 
in the due regulation of these, Christian perfection 
and sanctity principally consist. Lastly, sensible 
of your weakness and corruption, apply to the 
throne of grace for strength from above, by a 
diligent use of the means of salvation, prayer 

H 



9$ HOMILIES, &C. 

and the holy sacraments. Let neither sloth n6r 
business, neither company nor amusement, nor 
the evil example of tepid and ungrateful Christi- 
ans, prevail upon you to omit the regular dis- 
charge of these important duties. By faithfully 
practising the above directions, you will daily 
advance towards Christian perfection. Like the 
spiritual Israelites, of whom the holy Tobias is 
so illustrious an example, you will walk not only 
with fidelity, but with delight, in all the command- 
ments of God, fixing your heart and affections 
on the happiness of a future state, and embracing 
with cheerfulness whatever the hand of divine 
Providence shall appoint for you in your present 
pilgrimage. Oh ! my beloved brethren, what 
sweet consolations will this your fidelity during 
life diffuse around your bed of sickness and of 
death. Enjoying, in the tranquillity of a good 
conscience, a foretaste of that happiness which is 
soon to be your everlasting recompense, the near 
jrospect of eternity will fill your hearts with joy. 
fixulting with the Apostle, you will cry out, 
u I have fought the good fight, I have kept the 
true faith, I have finished my course ; and now 
there is laid up for me a crown of glory, which 
the Lord, the just Judge will render unto me." 
% Tim. iv. ». 



EIGHTH HOMILY. 



€hap. II. ver. 22. At these words, his wife being angry, answer- 
ed : It is evident thy hope is come to nothing, and thy alms 

now appear 23. And with these, and other such like 

words, she upbraided him. 

X he subject of my last instruction must have 
convinced you, my beloved brethren, that the 
virtues of Tobias were of no ordinary cast, but 
stamped with a very high degree of perfection. 
Anxious that all under his care should serve God 
with the same fidelity as himself, he trained his 
son in the path of virtue, and recalled to the mind 
of his wife the principles of the divine law, that 
no temptation, arising either from the poverty of 
their circumstances, or the persuasion of others 
less virtuous than himself, might induce her to 
transgress the bounds of justice. " It is not law- 
mi," said this holy man, " for us either to eat or 
to touch any thing that cometh by theft." Anna, 
whose character was very different from that of 
her husband, had, by mixing with the world, 
imbibed a worldly spirit. Instead of receiving 
with gratitude the well-meant and religious ad- 

H2 



100 HOMILIES ON 

monition of her husband, she gave vent to pas- 
sion in bitter reproaches, which not only wounded 
the feelings of Tobias, but also struck at the 
wisdom of divine Providence, and manifested a 
great want of confidence in the Almighty, as well 
as a miserable deficiency of those religious prin- 
ciples that guided and consoled the heart of her 
husband. To his kind admonition she replied 
with sneers : " It well becomes you to entertain 
such scrupulous nicety respecting the property 
of others, after having foolishly given away your 
own. By your indiscreet liberality you have 
dissipated your own fortune, and reduced your 
family to want. Where is now the fruit of your 
past charities ? Is it thus that the Providence of 
which you have spoken with so much confidence, 
rewards your services ? You will know for the 
future what reliance to place upon it's care and 
protection." In such impious terms as these did 
Anna reproach her husband, not only once but 
frequently, so little had she profited by his holy 
advice and example. Her insulting and blasphe- 
mous language was not the effect of a mere 
momentary and sudden impulse of anger : it 
proceeded from a want of divine faith, and from 
her having adopted the maxims of those carnal- 
minded Jews among whom she lived ; and like 
whom she was willing to serve God, so long as 
his service did not call for the sacrifice of any 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS 101 

humour, inclination, or worldly interest. This 
life seems to have been the only object of her 
solicitude, and to provide for it's wants the only 
motive upon which she laboured for the support 
of her family, and not any thought or desire 
of obtaining a reward in the life to come. Oh ! 
how dangerous a thing it is to love the company 
of worldlings, and to listen to their discourse. 
Their maxims, always favourable to self-love and 
the indulgence of corrupt nature, slide imper- 
ceptibly into the heart, and soon undermine the 
principles of religion and virtue. Faith becomes 
weak ; the truths which it delivers, by degrees lose 
their influence ; and the soul, almost without be- 
ing sensible of it, adopts the sentiments of the 
world as the only rule of it's affections, it's desires, 
and it's actions. Such, unfortunately, was the 
effect which too free an intercourse with the 
world had upon the conduct of Anna, the wife 
of Tobias. The principles of virtue implanted 
in her breast by the pious discourse and holy ex- 
ample of her husband, were gradually weakened, 
and at length almost entirely rooted out. But 
this will be less a subject of astonishment to us, 
when we reflect that the wife of Job, many ages 
before, had furnished a similar example of the 
danger of communicating with the wicked. The 
reproaches and insults which holy Job met with 
fiom his wife and pretended friends, were con* 



102 



HOMILIES OS 



veyed in nearly the same impious language with 
which Tobias under his afflictions was assailed by 
his wife. 

Is it then necessary for me, my beloved bre- 
thren, after these examples, to unfold to you the 
danger of evil company, and how strict an obli- 
gation you are under of avoiding it ? Would to 
God that it were not necessary for me to enter 
upon this subject ! But when I reflect upon the 
number of young persons, who, notwithstanding 
their early instruction in piety and religion, have 
been seduced from the path of virtue, live in a 
habit of sin, and walk in the road that leads to 
eternal damnation, and who owe their misfortune 
to no other cause than mixing with the company 
of the wicked, I feel it a duty which I owe to 
you and to my own conscience, to warn you who 
now hear me of this fatal source of the destruc- 
tion of souls. It is a most lamentable truth, that 
the good and edifying example of God's faithful 
servants, the zealous labours of the Apostles and 
their successors in the sacred ministry, and the 
sacraments and sacrifice of the Church, joined to 
the merits of the death and passion of Christ 
Jesus, do not procure the salvation of half so 
many souls as is the number of those who are 
eternally ruined by the corrupt example of the 
wicked. The Saviour of the world has indeed 
pronounced the severest of woes against those 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 1QS 

who by their scandalous lives draw others into 
sin, and lead them in the road to perdition. Yet 
he has also declared, that it is necessary that scan- 
dals should come; that there will always be 
numbers of our unhappy fellow-creatures, who, 
not content with wilfully consenting to their own 
damnation, will act as powerful agents of the 
devil, in corrupting the well-disposed, in with- 
drawing them from the practice of virtue, and 
dragging them to everlasting misery. Well does 
the Apostle St. Paul style all such Christians 
" enemies of the cross of Christ." The Son of 
God came down from heaven to save souls ; his 
labours, his preachings, his miracles, his sufferings, 
and his death, were all directed to the salvation 
pf souls. But the scandalous Christian, he, who 
bearing the name of a follower of Christ, lives in 
the violation of the precepts of the Gospel, ix\ 
the neglect of his religious duties, and the habit 
of any public sin, makes void the death and 
passion of Jesus Christ, destroys the very end 
of his coming among men, and, by his evil ex- 
ample and discourse, proves the eternal damnation 
of those precious souls for whose salvation the 
Son of God shed his blood upon a cross. My 
heart, my beloved brethren, is ready to burst 
with grief; my blood chills within my veins, 
when I look at and consider the number of souls 
that owe their damnation to no other cause, origi- 



104 HOMILIES ON 

nally, than the seduction of evil company. You 
would fly with horror from the wretch whom you 
knew to have been but once guilty of the crime 
of taking away the corporal life of a fellow-crea- 
ture; and can you without fear associate with 
those far more terrible murderers who are daily 
and hourly guilty of murdering the souls of 
others, by leading them, especially young persons, 
into mortal sin, teaching them habits of vice, and 
conducting them the first steps in the road to 
perdition ? 

I do not now ask you what will be the senti- 
ments of your soul, if, at the day of God's final 
judgment upon sinners, some unhappy young per- 
sons who have been seduced by your evil ex- 
ample from the way of virtue, shall point to you 
as the authors of their destruction. But, I ask 
you, where can you in reason expect that your 
station at that day will be, if during life you 
have been linked in bonds of friendship with the 
worst of God's enemies; with those, who by 
their irreligious lives and wicked example have 
brought a scandal upon religion, made void the 
blood of Jesus, and proved the eternal destruction 
of souls ? Will you not then be classed with the 
workers of iniquity, and with them receive your 
portion in everlasting misery ? For, are you not 
guilty of offering a most heinous insult to the 
God of heaven, your future Judge, if you asso- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 105 

eiate with those who trample his divine law 
under their feet ? Do you not thus involve your- 
selves both in their present enmity to God, and 
in the danger of sharing in their future and ever- 
lasting exclusion from his presence ? When Jo- 
saphat, king of Judah, had, for motives of state 
policy, contracted an alhance with the impious 
Achab, king of Israel, he was severely condemned 
by Almighty God for such a connexion. A 
prophet was commissioned on the part of the 
Most High, to admonish and reprove him in these 
terms : " You assist the wicked, and associate 
with those who hate God, on which account you 
deserve to be rebuked." 2 Kings, xix. 

To love God with our whole heart, and at the 
same time to be fond of the society of those 
who are hourly insulting him by their crimes, 
are things totally irreconcileable with each other. 
However we may flatter ourselves that we are 
in no danger of becoming corrupted by the com- 
pany of the wicked, the dreadful experience of 
thousands that have gone before us ought to 
convince us, that it is impossible to associate 
any long time with the wicked without adopting 
their manners. There is nothing which has so 
much influence upon the conduct of mankind 
as example. What powerful effects does the 
virtuous life of but one faithful servant of God 
produce upon those who are witnesses of it! 



106 HOMILIES QK 

How many sinners are by it reclaimed from vice, 
how many that waver are confirmed, how many 
just animated to perseverance! But, if this be 
the effect of the lives of the good, how much 
more weighty must be the influence of the conduct 
©f the wicked, who by their example invite us 
to the indulgence of every thing that is agreeable 
to corrupt nature and a vicious self-love ! There 
cannot then, most certainly, be a more dangerous 
snare for our virtue, nor consequently a more 
eertain sign of it's speedy future destruction, 
than to frequent evil company. Weak and 
corrupt of ourselves, we are unable, without the 
aid of divine grace, to do any thing deserving 
of eternal life. This grace the Almighty promises 
to us so long as we walk before him with an 
humble fear of offending him, and carefully shun 
all dangerous occasions of sin. But to court 
danger and temptation, is to forfeit all claim to 
the divine protection, leave ourselves unarmed 
in the hour of danger, and wilfully consent to 
our ruin. Now, among all the dangers and 
temptations to which we are exposed, there is 
not any one so great as that which arises from 
the company of the wicked. As well might 
you expect to live in the midst of persons in- 
fected with the plague and not catch their 
disorder, as to associate with evil company and 
at the same time not adopt their vices. " Can, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 107 

a man touch pitch without being defiled with 
it?" says the wise man. No, nor can we fre- 
quent evil company and escape the contagion 
of their example. You may, perhaps, persuade 
yourselves, that you love their persons and not 
their faults ; that you will take care not to join 
in their excesses, nor imitate their conduct. Fatal 
delusion ! By being frequently in the company 
of the wicked you will become habituated to 
scenes of vice, and the constant hearing and see- 
ing of what is contrary to decency and virtue 
will soon wear off that horror of sin which at 
present proves your security. Your virtue thus 
stripped of it's guard, will be left open and de- 
fenceless ; the poison of evil example will work 
it's way insensibly into the heart; you will, almost 
without perceiving it, adopt the sentiments and 
actions of your associates ; and, at length throw- 
ing off all restraint, run headlong with them the 
career of iniquity. So sensible of this danger 
w r ere the Saints of God, both in the old and the 
new law, that though they had spent years in 
the faithful service of God, and were confirmed 
in long habits of virtue, they carefully shunned 
the society of the wicked, lest, by criminally run- 
ning into danger, they should provoke God to 
withdraw his supporting grace, and leave them 
a prey to the snares of evil company. If such 
was the conduct of the Saints, who were in- 



108 HOMILIES ON 

finitely stronger than ourselves, shall we dare 
to court the friendship of sinners, and think our- 
selves safe ? Are not we, at least, under an equal 
obligation of flying from this most dangerous 
of all the occasions of sin? Yes, my beloved 
brethren, this obligation is so strict and so im- 
portant, that the word of God delivers it in various 
passages, and in the strongest terms. " My son," 
says the wise man, " if sinners shall flatter thee 
with their caresses, consent not to them : walk 
not thou with them, refrain thy foot from their 
paths." Prov. i. 10, 15. "We charge you," cries out 
the Apostle St. Paul, " in the name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from 
every brother that walketh disorderly." 2 Thess. 
iii. 6. "If any man that is called a brother be 
a fornicator or a drunkard, with such a one do 
not even eat." 1 Cor. 5. " Evil communication 
corrupts good manners." 1 Cor. 15. Before the 
Hebrews entered the land of Canaan, Almighty 
God strictly charged them not to contract any 
friendship or alliance with the inhabitants of that 
idolatrous country, lest they should be corrupted 
by their evil example. But the Jews, forgetful 
of the divine precept, and following their own 
evil inclinations, mixed with the idolaters, learned 
their evil ways, and forsook the worship of the 
true God. It was, through a similar neglect of 
this important precept of flying evil company, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 109 

that Solomon, after many years spent in the 
service of God, lost the grace of heaven, and 
miserably abandoned himself to shameful lusts 
and idolatry. If other examples were necessary 
to impress upon your minds a conviction of the 
obligation under which you are, of avoiding evil 
company, and of the fatal consequences attendant 
upon a neglect of this obligation, I could cite 
to you that of the Apostle St. Peter, the great 
St. Augustine, and thousands of others, who owed 
their misfortunes to this fatal source of sin, evil 
company. But I would rather invite you to 
turn your eyes to the numerous living examples 
of the fatal effects of bad company. If you your- 
selves have happily escaped it's snares, is there 
no one among your friends or acquaintance who 
once walked in the way of virtue, till entering 
into the company of the wicked, he lost his in- 
nocence, and became corrupted like them. Look 
at the numbers of young persons living in the 
dreadful habits of cursing, drunkenness, and im- 
purity, and be convinced how fatal an engine 
of destruction is the company of the wicked, and 
how strictly every Christian is bound to shun 
it ! Oh ! that all parents and masters of families 
who now hear me, sensible of the obligation which 
their state imposes upon them, would faithfully 
co-operate with me in warning the tender souls 
entrusted to them of this fatal snare, and watch 



110 



HOMILIES ON 



over them to preserve them from the society 
of the wicked ! It is too often owing to a criminal 
neglect of parents and persons in authority, in 
not watching with sufficient caution over the 
conduct of their children, apprentices, and ser- 
vants, that the seeds of vice are sown by evil 
companions in the minds of young persons, and 
habits are formed which they never afterwards 
break off. Be then vigilant in the discharge of 
your duty ; banish from your houses those whose 
lives are scandalous, and whose vicious example 
may infect the tender souls under your care 
Let all who belong to you be sensible that it 
is the first wish of your heart to see them faith- 
fid in the service of God, and to aid them in 
working out their eternal salvation. Thus will 
you most effectually contribute to their sancti- 
fication, and at the same time promote your own 
and their everlasting welfare. 

In the bowels of the mercy of Christ Jesus 
I now address you, the younger part of my 
audience, who are more immediately exposed to 
the danger against which I have this day warned 
you. I conjure you ever to remember your own 
weakness and to tremble, lest by connecting 
yourselves with the wicked you should forfeit 
the divine protection, and learn their evil ways. 
If you have already had the misfortune to listen 
to their seductions, and leave the path of virtue. 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. Ill 

break asunder the bonds which link you to the 
-wicked, and no more frequent their society, or 
the places to which they resort. It is hard, per- 
haps you will tell me, to part from those whom 
you call your friends. But will it be easier to 
go with them into everlasting flames ? Is there 
any thing that ought to be preferred to your 
eternal happiness ? Has not your Redeemer de- 
clared, that we must cheerfully renounce whatever 
would prove an obstacle in our way to heaven, 
even if it be as dear to us as a hand or an eye. 
With what joy did the martyrs resign their 
estates, their friends, and even their blood, for 
the gaining of heaven ; and how glorious is the 
crown that now recompenses their sacrifice! 
Imitate their noble resolution ; trample the world 
under your feet, renounce the company of sinners, 
and labour to repair past scandals, setting before 
your eyes the awful scene of the last judgment, 
in which your station will depend principally 
upon the choice that you now make of your 
friends and companions. Oh ! what sweet tran- 
quillity will fill your souls when you have once 
regained the path of virtue! With what con- 
fidence will you be enabled to stand before your 
Judge in the hour of death, and in the day 
of judgment ! The labour is short, the recompense 

eternal. 

If you have hitherto escaped the seductions 



112 HOMILIES, &C. 

of evil company, be more than ever on your 
guard against this dangerous snare for your virtue.. 
Be extremely cautious in the choice of your 
companions; carefully shunning the society of 
the drunkard, the impure, the swearer, the de- 
tracted and the blasphemer. Seek the friend- 
ship of those who live up to the faith which 
you profess ; by whose good example you may 
be aided and encouraged in the path of virtue, 
and in whose happy company you may be found 
at the right-hand of your Saviour, when he shall 
welcome his faithful servants to a participation 
of his glory. 



NINTH HOMILY. 



€hap. HI. ver. 1. Then Tobias sighed, and began to pray with 

tears, 2. Saying, Thou art just, O Lord, and all thy 

judgments are just, and all thy ways are mercy, and truth, 

and judgment 3. And now, O Lord, think of me, 

and take not revenge of my sins, neither remember my 

offences, nor those of my parents 4, For we have not 

obeyed thy commandments, and therefore are delivered to 
spoil, and to captivity, and death, and are made a fable and 
a reproach to all nations amongst which thou hast scattered 

us 5. And now, O Lord, great are thy judgments, 

because we have not done according to thy precepts, and 

have not walked sincerely before thee. 6. And now, 

O Lord, do with me according to thy will, and command 
my spirit to be received in peace : for it is better for me» 
to die than to live. 



ftomilv. 



o 



F all the trials with whkh the hand of divine 
Providence visited the good Tobias for the per- 
fection of his virtue, none seems so deeply to 
have affected him as the irreligious language 
and unaffectionate conduct of his wife. Struck 
with blindness, he submitted without murmuring 
to this severe affliction ; and when reviled by his 
relations and pretended friends, he answered their 

I 



ll & HOMIIrlES ON 

insulting railleries with meekness, and kindly 
admonished them of their duty. But when he 
heard the person whom of all others he most 
tenderly loved, and from whom he expected 
consolation under his sufferings, join with the 
impious followers of the world in ridiculing his 
piety, and attacking the goodness and justice of 
God's providence, his heart could no longer with- 
stand the emotions of grief. He made no reply 
to the insulting reproaches of his wife, lest he 
should give occasion to fresh sallies of anger, 
and be forced to witness another effusion of im- 
piety from her, who, notwithstanding his edifying 
example, had imbibed the false maxims of her 
carnal-minded acquaintance, But, fetching a deep 
sigh from a breast overwhelmed with grief and 
affliction, Tobias had recourse to prayer as his 
only consolation in distress. Oh ! that all mar- 
ried persons, when in similar circumstances of 
affliction, when suffering from the reproaches or 
unbecoming language of the partner of their bed, 
instead of aggravating their uneasiness by a re- 
turn of insulting words and unchristian behaviour, 
would, like the holy Tobias, remain silent till 
the storm is past, secretly offering their hearts 
to Almighty God, and imploring light, help, 
and consolation from above! How many fatal 
quarrels and dissensions would thus be prevented! 
How many sources of unhappiness would be dried 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 115 

up ; how seldom would peace and harmony l>e 
driven from the bosom of families ! Besides, this 
humble endeavour to preserve that agreement 
which is so essential to the happiness of married 
persons, never fails to bring down the blessing 
of heaven upon it's exertions ; and the prayers, 
thus offered up in a spirit of meekness and charity, 
prove an abundant source of grace and consolation 
to families. 

The prayer which Tobias poured forth in his 
affliction, is an admirable model of that holy 
exercise to persons in all states and conditions, 
but particularly to those who are suffering under 
persecution or distress. He begins his prayer 
with the most humble acknowledgment of the 
wisdom and justice of divine Providence, and 
the inward humility of his soul manifests itself 
in the sighs and tears which accompany the 
expression of his grief. Prayer is an homage 
due from man to his Creator, as the Supreme and 
Sovereign Lord of the universe, the beginning 
and the end of all things. Man, in whatever 
state we consider him, is strictly bound to humble 
himself before the majesty of God ; to meditate 
upon the works of his infinite power, wisdom, 
and goodness ; to praise and thank him for his 
blessings ; and to make frequent acts or outward 
expressions of the love of his Creator. This 
kind of prayer is what forms the uninterrupted 

12 



U6 HOMILIES OK 

and eternal occupation of the blessed in heaven, 
as St. John informs us in the Revelations. At 
one time, he tells us, that he saw before the 
throne of God four and twenty elders, having 
crowns of gold upon their heads, and with them 
four living creatures, who rested not day and 
night, but incessantly cried out, Holy, Holy, 
Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who 
is, and who is to come. Then falling down be- 
fore Him who is seated on the throne, and cast- 
ing their crowns at his feet, as a confession of 
his sovereign dominion, and of his being the 
Author of their happiness, they proclaim him 
worthy to receive honour and glory and power 
and wisdom and strength for ever and ever. 
At another time, the holy Evangelist beholds 
millions of millions of blessed spirits surrounding 
the throne of the Lamb that was slain for the 
sins of men, and singing canticles of joy and 
thanksgiving to him ; while an innumerable mul- 
titude, of all nations and tribes and tongues, 
standing before the throne, clothed in white 
robes, and holding palms in their hands, cry 
out with a loud voice, " Glory be to our God, 
and to the Lamb that redeemed usjby his blood." 
Apoc. iv. 4., v. 6. — Such, my beloved brethren, 
is the constant and only occupation of the blessed 
in heaven. The great work of the creation of 
the universe, and the still more incomprehensible 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 117 

mystery of the redemption of fallen man, call 
forth the incessant and eternal praises of the 
angels and glorified spirits. And shall we. for 
whom the Almighty thus exerted the wonders of 
his Omnipotence, remain unmindful of his good* 
ness, and refuse him the tribute of our adora- 
tion, praise, and thanksgiving? Happy indeed 
are we, if, grateful for his blessings, we pay him 
the daily homage of our praise, and thus begin 
upon earth that employment which will here- 
after be our only occupation in the company 
of the blessed ! 

But, situated as we are in this world, there 
is another kind of prayer, of still stricter obliga- 
tion, and still more necessary for us, and more 
closely connected with our eternal welfare/, I mean 
the prayer of supplication and petition, by which 
we apply to the Deity, as the source of all 
good, for help from above, and for the light 
and grace that may conduct us safe to our ever- 
lasting happiness. This kind of prayer was always 
necessary for man, even in his happy state of 
innocence in the garden of Paradise ; because 
prayer alone could secure to him that divine 
favour and protection which were to preserve 
him faithful in his allegiance to his Creator, and 
firm in the path of duty. But since the dis- 
obedience of our first parents, prayer is become 
of infinitely greater obligation and necessity 

13 



118 



HOMILIES ON 



Fallen from our original excellence, a prey to 
ignorance and concupiscence, and surrounded by 
the most artful and malicious enemies, who at 
every step are planting a snare for our destruc- 
tion, we are of ourselves totally incapable either 
of providing for our own safety, of vanquishing 
our spiritual enemies, or of attaining to the great 
end of our being — the favour of God here, and 
the eternal enjoyment of him hereafter. It is 
He who by his grace must work in us both 
to will and to do that which is good ; on him 
we depend for light, help, and strength, for 
present safety and future happiness. There is 
no truth, indeed, more revolting to our natural 
pride and self-sufficiency than this great secret 
of Christianity, viz. our own total inability to 
do good. But at the same time, there is no 
truth the knowledge of which is so necessary 
for us, and of so much importance in a spiritual 
light. " Without me," says the divine Founder 
of our religion, ** ye can do nothing." John xv. 5. ; 
and his inspired Apostle assures us, that with- 
out grace from above we cannot so much as 
pronounce the adorable name of Jesus in a man- 
ner agreeable to God. Thus weak and destitute 
of ourselves, whither shall we fly for refuge, con- 
solation, and protection ? To God, on the wings 
of prayer. He is omnipotent, and therefore can 
help us; he is all-good, and therefore will not 



THE £00£ OF TOBIAS. 119 

i-efiise to Iris children the blessings which they 
ask of his paternal bounty. For, " if you, being 
evil, know how to give good gifts to your 
children, how much more will your Father from 
heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask 
him." Luke xi. 13. 

Prayer then is necessary y because of our total 
dependence upon the divine bounty for every 
good gift necessary for our present and future 
welfare. But this is not the only reason why 
we are bound to pray. God, who alone can 
satisfy our wants and necessities, has been pleased 
to appoint prayer as the ordinary channel for 
communicating his graces to us. Our wants are 
indeed known to him long before they are per- 
ceived and felt by ourselves, and he could, with- 
out our petitioning him, administer the help of 
which we stand in need. But then we should 
neither have that thorough conviction of our 
own entire dependence upon him, nor that sense 
of his infinite goodness and love towards us, 
which, during our present state of trial, are ne- 
cessary to preserve our souls in a proper degree 
of Christian hope. God, therefore, who is the 
dispenser of his own mercies, and can fix what 
conditions he pleases for the distribution of his 
blessings, has ordained prayer as the means on 
our part for rendering us deserving of his bounty. 
"Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall 

I 4 



im 



HOMILIES ON 



find, knock and it shall be opened unto you."* 
Luke xi. 9. " Pray and faint not." Luke xviii. 1, 
Oh ! happy necessity which forces us to a sweet 
and holy intercourse with our Creator ! Happy 
obligation which admits us into the secret closet 
of the great King of Heaven, raises us among 
the princes of his celestial court near to the throne 
of his infinite majesty, and opens to us the full 
hand of his unbounded mercy ! If any earthly 
sovereign were to invite us to come at any hour 
into his presence, and lay our temporal necessities 
before him, with a full assurance of lending a 
favourable ear to our requests, and corresponding 
with our petitions, should we slight the invita- 
tion ? Should we suffer ourselves to be easily 
prevailed upon to wave our claim to the favour 
and protection of our prince ? I believe, my be- 
loved brethren, there is not one of us, who, if 
honoured with so distinguished a mark of royal 
favour, would not feel proud of making the world 
sensible of the high privilege which he enjoyed, 
and daily embrace with gladness the opportunity 
which a free access to the person of his prince 
afforded him, of obtaining relief for himself and 
his friends. Shall we, then, think less highly of 
the honour conferred upon us by the King of 
Heaven, in not only inviting but even command- 
ing us to lay our wants before him ? Shall we be 
less solicitous for eternal blessings than for tern- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 121 

poral ones? Shall we slight the gracious con- 
descension of that tender and omnipotent Father, 
who waits but to behold us imploring his aid in 
the disposition of humble suppliants, and is ready 
instantly to shower down upon us the treasures 
of his grace and mercy ? Shall we refuse him the 
acceptable tribute of our morning and evening 
homage ; a tribute, which, though due to him as 
our Creator, Preserver, and Sovereign Lord, he 
never fails to recompense with abundant blessings, 
temporal and eternal ? Ah ! my beloved brethren, 
how truly provoking and insulting in the sight 
of God must be the conduct of those who, not- 
withstanding his invitations, his commands, and 
his promises, neglect the daily and important obli- 
gation of prayer! Yet, how does this criminal 
neglect now overspread the face of the earth ! 
How few are the families and the individuals that 
are faithful in the discharge of this duty ! Thou- 
sands of those among whom we live, rise in the 
morning without one thought of the bounty of* 
that Being who preserved them during the night 
from the arrows of death that have fallen thick 
around them, and have surprised so many of their 
unhappy fellow-creatures. They hasten to their 
daily task and occupation without a single act 
of homage and adoration of that God who holds 
m his hand the thread of their existence. For- 
getful of their dependence on the bounty of God 



122 HOMILIES. Otf 

during the day, they conclude their labours in 
the same slothful spirit ; they retire to rest like 
the brutes of the field ; and though their con- 
sciences groan under a load of iniquity, they offer 
not a single supplication for mercy to their in- 
sulted God, whose vengeance they have such just 
reasons to fear. Even among the better sort of 
Christians, who are careful to perform some acts 
of devotion each morning and evening, what 
slothful indifference is too often observable in 
the manner of discharging this sacred obligation ! 
How small a portion of time is devoted to the 
holy exercise of prayer ; and of that small portion, 
how very little is really given to God from a 
want of that sense of our total dependence on 
God, and that ardent desire of obtaining his grace 
here and the enjoyment of him hereafter, which 
are the life and soul of Christian prayer ! Again; 
how many parents and masters of families, though 
faithful perhaps in fulfilling the duty of prayer 
themselves, take no care of those under their 
charge as to the performance of this obligation, 
and consequently become responsible in the sight 
of God for the criminal neglect of prayer, of 
which their children, servants, and apprentices are 
guilty, and for the evil consequences that flow 
from such neglect ! Indeed, my beloved brethren, 
without entering into any detail of the fatal effects 
of neglecting the important duty of prayer, it 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 123 

may be said with truth, that to this one neglect 
alone we may ascribe the ruin of the greater part 
of the souls that are eternally lost. For, however 
violent and dangerous may be the temptations to 
which we find ourselves exposed ; however strong 
and inveterate the habits of vice in which we may 
have the misfortune to be engaged ; however ma- 
licious the efforts of our spiritual enemies ; prayer, 
fervent prayer, will remove every obstacle to sal- 
vation, will prove both a sword and a shield in 
the hour of danger, and will lead us on to the 
possession of that crown which is promised to the 
conqueror of sin and death. But to neglect 
prayer, is to walk naked and unarmed into the 
midst of foes that are incessantly plotting our 
destruction ; in short, it is wilfully writing the 
sentence of our own everlasting condemnation. 
In prayer the Saints of God found their protec- 
tion from danger, their safeguard in battle, their 
refuge in tribulation, their consolation in distress. 
Thus the holy servant of God, Tobias, struck with 
blindness, deprived of his possessions, ridiculed 
by his friends, and reviled by his wife, in fine, 
abandoned by every earthly consolation, flies to 
prayer for his solace under the sorrows that over- 
whelmed him, and in prayer finds that comfort 
and relief which no human aid could have afforded 
him. He humbles himself under the hand that 
strikes him ; adores the divine judgments, always 



124 



HOMILIES ON 



just and holy in themselves ; and bows with per- 
fect submission to the will of heaven. He leaves 
himself to the disposal of Providence, whose ways 
he acknowledges are full of mercy, and truth, and 
justice : full of mercy, because all his chastise- 
ments are designed to promote the happiness of 
his children ; full of truth, because in them he 
fulfils his own declaration, that " he chastises him 
whom he loves." Prov. iii. 12. ; and full of justice, 
because no man living is without stain in his 
divine sight, and, consequently, no one is exempt 
from feeling the effects of sin in the scourges of 
divine justice. " Thou art just, O Lord, and all 
thy judgments are just, and all thy ways are 
mercy, and truth, and judgment." Having thus 
confessed the justice of divine Providence, Tobias 
runs with confidence to shelter himself under the 
wings of it's mercy. " Now, O Lord, remember 
me, and take not revenge of my sins, neither 
remember my offences, nor those of my parents. 
For we have not obeyed thy commandments, and 
therefore are delivered to spoil, and captivity, 
and to death." Full of humility, Tobias ranks 
himself among sinners ; acknowledges that his 
unworthiness was such as might have excluded 
him from a place in the remembrance of God's 
mercy. But full also of divine faith, he considers 
his afflictions as a proof of the kind intentions 
of his Creator towards him, knowing that the 






THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 125 

like afflictions had befallen the Saints who had 
gone before him in the path of virtue. While 
he confesses himself a sinner, and acknowledges 
himself and the whole people of Israel to have 
deserved the vengeance of God by their ingrati- 
tude for past favours, he implores heaven to avert 
it's scourges, to forget his own and his people's 
sins, and to be mindful only of it's ancient mer- 
cies. Then turning to the consideration of his 
own state ; conscious of his past fidelity in the 
divine service, and being confident that death 
would bring him to the happy accomplishment 
of all his labours, his prayers and his tears, he 
cheerfully recommends his soul into the hands of 
his Creator. " And now, O Lord, do with me 
according to thy will, and command my spirit 
to be received in peace." Not that this holy man 
was weary of suffering, or sunk under his afflic- 
tions ; but considering the dangers that threat- 
ened him, from the evil example of the wicked 
among whom he lived, he feared lest he should 
be drawn aside from the path of duty, and for- 
feit the divine favour. Looking therefore upon 
death as the best security both for his virtue 
and it's reward, he prays for the hastening of 
the moment of his dissolution, yet with perfect 
submission to that divine Providence which or- 
dains all things for the good of it's servants. — 
That holy prayer, my beloved brethren, may be 






IZ§ HOMILIES, &C 

your refuge and consolation in time of distress ; 
be faithful in the discharge of this holy duty 
during your health and strength, and see that 
all under your charge are regular in the perform- 
ance of this sacred obligation. Abundant bless- 
ings, both temporal and eternal, will be the happy 
reward of your fidelity. 



TENTH HOMILY. 



Chap. HI. ver. 7. Now it happened on the same day, that Sara, 
daughter of Raguel in Rages, a city of the Medes, received 

a reproach from one of her father's servant-maids, 

8. Because she had been given to seven husbands, and a devil 
named Asmodeus had killed them at their first going in unto 

her 9. So when she reproved the maid for her fault, 

she answered her, saying, May we never see son or daughter 

of thee upon the earth, thou murderer of thy husbands ! 

10. Wilt thou kill me also, as thou hast already killed seven 
husbands ? — At these words she went into an upper chamber 
of her house, and for three days and three nights did neither 

eat nor drink: 11. But continuing in prayer with tears, 

besought God that he would deliver her from this reproach. 

W e are now, my beloved brethren, arrived at 
a part of the book of Tobias which unfolds to 
us many admirable secrets of the conduct of di- 
vine Providence towards it's chosen servants. At 
the same time that Tobias in his affliction at 
Ninive had recourse to prayer as his only con- 
solation, Sarah, another servant of God at Rages, 
or, as it is also called, Ecbatana, a city of the 
Medes, having met with a severe persecution, 
flew to the same holy exercise for refuge and 



128 



HOMILIES ON 



comfort. The prayers of both these holy per- 
sons were heard by Almighty God, because they 
were presented to him in the same spirit of a 
lively faith and solid humility. Their petitions 
were granted, but in a manner very different from 
what they themselves expected, as the sequel of 
the history will inform you. 

Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was a virtuous 
young woman, whose holy life corresponded with 
the principles of piety in which she had been 
educated. In compliance with the will of her 
parents, she had engaged no less than seven times 
in the married state, but each of her seven hus- 
bands had been struck with death on the first 
night of his marriage. As they had suffered 
their hearts to fall a prey to the passion of lust, 
and the gratification of their passion was the prin- 
cipal motive that induced them to enter into 
matrimony, Almighty God, to shew the abhor- 
rence which he has of all impurity, particularly 
in the married state, delivered them up to the 
power of an evil spirit, * who slew them at their 
very first going in unto her." How dreadful an 
example is this of the rigorous punishment with 
which God will hereafter visit those who either 
enter into the married state with unbecoming 
dispositions, or when engaged in it, profane it's 
sanctity by any indecent liberties. Though he no 
longer displays his visible judgments upon such 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 199 

as provoke him by these crimes, Christians are to 
remember, that their punishment will be so much 
the more severe in that future state in which 
justice will no longer be tempered with mercy. 
By the untimely end of the seven first husbands 
of Sarah, Almighty God plainly shewed that they 
were not worthy of her, and at the same time 
gives an awful lesson to all young persons, of that 
purity of heart and intention which he requires 
from those who enter into the holy state of matri- 
mony. The dispositions necessary to draw down 
the divine blessing upon a Christian marriage 
will come under our consideration in the course 
of a future instruction. 

After the death of her seven husbands, Sarah 
continued to live with her parents that same life 
of purity and innocence which had secured her, 
in so visible a manner*- the protection of heaven. 
On one occasion it happened that she found her- 
self obliged in duty to reprove one of her father's 
maid-servants for a fault which she had commit- 
ted. The servant, instead of receiving the cor- 
rection with humility, flew into a passion, and 
made use of the most reproachful and insulting 
language, charging her young mistress with being 
the murderer of her seven husbands, and calling- 
down the curse of heaven upon her. Sarah, 
though thus insulted and abused by an inferior, 
sought no revenge. Like a true servant of God, 

K 



130 HOMILIES ON 

• 

she considered the hand of Providence in this, 
as in every other event, sweetly disposing all 
things for her good. Banishing all thoughts of 
malice and revenge from her heart, she submits 
with admirable patience to the persecution of her 
servant, and seeks for comfort in holy prayer. 
To perform this holy exercise with greater re- 
collection of spirit, and to pour forth her heart 
with greater freedom, she withdraws from the 
noise and conversation of the world, and retires 
into a chamber in the upper part of the house. 
There she spends three whole days in the most 
fervent prayer ; and in order to give greater effica- 
cy to her petitions, observes dtiring the whole 
time a most rigorous fast, taking neither meat nor 
drink. With tears she implores her God to de- 
liver her from the reproach that had been cast 
upon her, to clear her from the ialse accusation 
of having been the murderer of her husbands, 
and to avert the curse of barrenness which her 
servant had called down upon her. It is thus, 
my beloved brethren, that the Saints of God leave 
it to the Almighty to be their avenger and 
deliverer under the calumnies and persecutions 
which befall them ; make it their only study to 
embrace with the most perfect submission all the 
appointments of Providence ; and to turn their 
trials and afflictions into so many sources of grace 
here, and of eternal reward hereafter. 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 131 

« 

From the prayer of Tobias I took occasion to 
point out to you the necessity and obligation of 
that holy exercise; a necessity founded on our 
total dependence upon God for every good, and 
on the positive injiinction of God himself, who 
has commanded us to pray as the means to render 
ourselves deserving; of his bounty. The prayer 
of Sarah, which forms the principal subject of 
this instruction, presents you with an excellent 
pattern of the manrier ill which you are to dis- 
charge this holy duty, in order to render your 
prayer pleasing in the sight of God, and produc- 
tive of fruit to your own souls. For it is not 
every kind of pray er which draws down the bless- 
ing of heaven. The prayer which is merely the 
service of the lips and not of the heart ; the prayer 
which is offered up by the wilful sinner, who re- 
mains obstinate in his crimes, or* by the worldling 
whose soul is enslaved to the perishable things 
of this life, and cares not for the blessings of 
eternity ; all such prayers as these, are a mockery 
of God, and instead of securing his blessing, pro- 
voke his indignation. When you pray therefore, 
imitate the virtuous Sarah, in carefully banishing 
the world and its follies from all place in your 
thoughts ; and let your exterior, i. e. the outward 
posture of your body, bespeak the inward reve^ 
rence and humility of your soul. Kneeling down, 
as a mark of respect due to the sovereign Creator, 



1'32 t HOMILIES OK 

Begin not your petition till you have deeply im- 
pressed upon your mind a sense of the presence 
of that immense Being who fills the heavens and 
the earth, before whom you kneel, and whose 
mercy you are about to implore. It is the advice 
of the wise man, or rather of the Holy Ghost 
by his mouth, who says, " Before prayer prepare 
thy soul, and be not as one who tempteth God." 
Eccl. xviii. 23. If thoughts of worldly business 
company, amusement, or the like, present them- 
selves before you when you go to prayer, say to 
them as Jesus did to his disciples when he en- 
tered the garden to pour forth his soul to his 
heavenly Father, " Stay you here while I go 
yonder and pray." Shut the door of your mind 
against all wilful distractions, and bring with you 
to this holy exercise, a heart truly sensible of the 
divine presence, and truly desirous to discharge 
this sacred duty in a becoming manner. There 
is nothing so necessary in order to pray well, as 
this recollection of spirit, this thought of the 
divine presence. But to obtain it and preserve 
it in your souls, you must not only cultivate this 
recollection at the times in which you go to 
prayer: accustom yourselves to a frequent re- 
membrance of the divine presence during the 
day ; let the whole tenour of your lives be regu- 
lar ; and, above all, avoid giving too much time 
to dissipation and excess of amusement, than 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 133 

which nothing contributes more to root out the 
spirit of prayer from the soul. Bringing with 
you this recollection of spirit to your prayers, 
you will not only prevent distractions from being 
voluntary in their- origin, but, acquiring a habit of 
watchfulness over yourselves, you will be power- 
fully aided in faithfully resisting and removing 
those involuntary wanderings of the mind, which 
are inseparable from our present state of frailty 
and corruption. Having then used your good 
endeavours to prepare yourselves for the duty of 
prayer, by recollection in the divine presence, be 
not disheartened or alarmed at the frequent in- 
voluntary distractions which you may experience. 
Make them,a subject of humility, acknowledging 
in them the weakness of your nature, and faith- 
fully fight against .them ; then, so far from hin- 
dering the fruit of your prayer, they will, by 
filling you with sentiments of humility, add great- 
ly to the merit of that holy exercise, and draw 
down an increase of grace. 

For, next to this recollection of spirit and sense 
of God's presence which I have pointed out to 
you as the first disposition towards praying well, 
you must be careful to pray with an humble 
spirit. God hath regard to the prayer of the 
humble, and he despiseth not their petitions ; 
but the proud he rejects far from him. Kneel 
before God with a full conviction of your own 

JK.3 



* 



1S4j homilies ok 

poverty and un worthiness ; sensible that your 
wants are infinite, arid that God alone can give 
you relief, throw yourselves at his feet. Cry 
out to him in the sentiments of humility and 
earnest supplication with which the beggar at 
•your gate entreats an alms from you ; for, says 
jthe great St Augustine, with regard to God, we 
are all beggars when we pray, prostrate before 
the door of this great Father of the whole world, 
with sighs and tears imploring blessings from 
him. It was in this spirit holy David prayed, 
Psalm lxix. 6, " I am needy and poor, O God 
help me :" and the prophet Daniel tells us that 
his prayers were performed in the same |iumble 
disposition ; " When I prayed," says he, P I con- 
fessed my sins and those of my people Israel, 
and prostrate oil the ground poured forth my 
prayers in the presence of my God." Dan. ix. 20. 
In the same humble and contrite spirit, the 
publican, by a short but fervent expression of 
humility, supplicated and found mercy in the 
forgiveness of his sins. 

But this humble sense of your own uiiwor- 
thiness must always be accompanied with a firm 
confidence in the goodness of God, which is a 
third condition requisite for rendering your pray 
ers acceptable to God. This is what the holy 
Scripture calls praying with faith ; " Whatsoever 
you shall ask in prayer, if you ask with faith, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIA& 135 

that is, with confidence in God, you shall obtain 
it." Matt. xxi. 22. How strong, how lively, how 
admirable was this faith in those poor distressed 
objects who are recorded in the Gospel to have 
drawn near to Jesus Christ for the cure of their 
temporal infirmities ! The woman w T ho had been 
afflicted for so many years with an issue of blood, 
says within herself, " If I shall but touch the 
hem of his garment I shall be healed." Matt. ix. 21. 
The centurion, after expressing his own unwor- 
thiness to entertain his Saviour under his roof, 
cries out with a full faith and confidence in 
his divine power and goodness, " Speak but the 
word, O Lord, and my servant shall be healed." 
Matt. viii. 8. Shall we then have less confidence 
when we apply to him for the relief of our 
spiritual wants ? Are his goodness and his power 
less than they formerly were; or is the arm 
of his mercy shortened? Has not he himself 
commanded us to pray, with a full assurance 
that whatsoever we ask we shall receive, if we 
ask it in his name ? Oh ! let us throw ourselves 
with confidence into the arms of his mercy, let 
us lay our wants at the feet of our heavenly 
Father ; filled, indeed, with a sense of our own 
unworthiness, but placing all our hope in that 
adorable Saviour, who having once by his death 
purchased every blessing for us, lives always to 
make intercession for us, and presents inces- 

K4 



136 HOMILIES ON 

santly to his eternal Father his bitter sufferings 
and death, in union with our humble requests, 
to the throne of mercy. 

But you have prayed, and you find yourselves 
no better for your prayers. — Redouble then your 
fervour, and persevere in prayer. For, either 
you. have not prayed with those dispositions 
which I have named to you, recollection in the 
divine presence, attention, humility, and confi- 
dence ; or the Almighty, in his merciful designs 
for your good, defers the grant of your petitions, 
in order that you may pray with greater earnest- 
ness and with perseverance, and thus may de- 
serve a great increase of grace. The offering 
of our prayer, at first insignificant and contemp- 
tible in itself, by being many times renewed 
and repeated, becomes at length valuable, and 
in some manner proportioned to the blessings 
which we ask. Hence Almighty God often grants 
to perseverance in prayer that which he refuses 
to a first request. Our divine Redeemer, there- 
fore, exhorts us to pray and faint not ; and for 
our encouragement gives us the example of a 
widow who had for a long time solicited an 
unjust judge to do her justice but without 
effect, till at length, by her multiplied entreaties, 
she in a manner forced him to grant her request. 
But the most admirable pattern of perseverance 
in prayer, is the Chananasan woman, as related 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS, 137 

in the 15th chapter of St. Matthew. This 
poor woman, though brought up amongst idolaters, 
had heard of Jesus Christ, and conceived a strong 
faith in him. She applied to him for the cure 
of her daughter, who was grievously tormented 
by the devil. At first our divine Redeemer 
took no notice at all of her request, but remained 
silent, as if he had no care for her. The woman 
not at all disheartened, redoubled her cries, till 
the Apostles, weary of her importunities, begged 
their divine Master either to dismiss her, or to 
grant what she asked. The answer of our Sa- 
viour was still more disheartening than his silence: 
" I am sent," said he, " only to the lost sheep 
of the house of Israel/' You, therefore, who 
belong not to my fold, have no claim upon my 
mercy. But, instead of sinking into despair and 
giving up her cause, the woman drew nearer 
to Jesus, threw herself at his feet, and worshipped 
him, saying, " Lord, help me." Admirable as 
was her confidence, and fervent as was her prayer, 
Jesus seemed not to regard it, but coolly re- 
plied, " It is not fit to take the bread of children 
and give it to the dogs." One would have 
imagined that this answer of our Saviour would 
have deprived this poor woman of all hope, and 
induced her to abandon her request; but it 
■serves only to animate her confidence, and re- 
double her fervour. " Yes, O Lord," she cries 



158 



HOMILIES ON 



out, " it is true ; but even the dogs eat of the 
crumbs which fall from their master's table." 
I confess, O Lord, that brought up in idolatry, 
1 am, compared to your* people, as that unclean 
animal, the dog. I am not worthy to partake 
of the bread with which you feed your children. 
But deny me not, O Lord, the crumbs which 
fall from jour table ; give me the blessing which 
I ask, and which requires not the exertion of 
that almighty power which you display in fa- 
vour of your people, but merely a fragment of 
your omnipotent goodness. " O woman," cried 
out our Redeemer, in admiration at her per- 
severance, " great is thy faith ; be it done to thee 
accordingly as thou hast desired :" and her daugh- 
ter was cured at that very hour. 

In how admirable a manner, my beloved 
brethren, has Jesus Christ here unfolded to us 
the conduct of our heavenly Father. If he grants 
not our requests when we first present them, 
it is not because he is either unable or unwilling 
to relieve us ; but it is to impress us more deeply 
with a sense of our own nothingness, to animate 
us with greater faith and confidence in his good- 
ness, to excite us to fresh fervour, and to induce 
us to perseverance, by which our offerings are 
rendered more pleasing in his sight, more pro- 
portioned to his graces, and more deserving of 
his bounty. 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 139 

Mindful then of the unbounded goodness -of 
that Being on whom you depend for every 
blessing, be instant in prayer; pray and faint 
not. But be careful, my beloved brethren, to 
bring with you to prayer the dispositions whielj 
I have pointed out to you, as essentially requisite 
to a good performance of that duty. When you 
present yourselves as suppliants before the throne 
of God, apply your whole soul to that holy 
exercise, Banish all carnal and worldly thoughts 
from your minds, and think of God alone, and 
of what you are asking from his bounty. Im- 
press your minds with a feeling sense of the 
divine presence, and raise yourselves in spirit 
above all earthly objects to the throne of the 
Deity. There, prostrate in the most profound 
sentiments of your own nothingness, pour forth 
your requests with an humble heart, but with 
a firm confidence in the goodness of God and 
the merits of your Saviour. Consider prayer as 
the most important business of each day of your 
lives ; as that upon which principally your present 
and future happiness depend. Let no worldly 
cares, neither business, company, nor amuse- 
ment, prevent your regular attention to this most 
important duty, both with regard to yourselves 
and your families. But in praying, let it be 
your first concern to seek the kingdom of God 
and his justice. Your prayers, thus proceeding 



140 HOMILIES, &C. 

from an earnest desire of eternal life, offered tip 
with recollection, attention, humility, and perse- 
verance, and presented in the name and through 
the merits of Christ Jesus, will ascend as a 
sweet odour before God, who will open to you, 
as he did to his servants Tobias and Sarah, the 
full hand of his mercy, in the liberal grant of all 
your requests. 



ELEVENTH HOMILY. 



Chap. IIL vet. 12. And it came to pass on the third day, when 
she (Sarah) was making an end of her prayer, blessing the 

the Lord, 13. she said, Blessed is thy name, O God 

of our Fathers : who, when thou hast been angry, wilt shew 
mercy, and in the time of tribulation forgivest the sins of 
them that call upon thee. 

A h e holy Scripture has recorded for us the 
conclusion of the admirable prayer, which Sarah 
in her distress presented to the Almighty. It 
is so clear that it stands not in need of any ex- 
planation ; and, at the same time, is so full of 
the noblest sentiments of piety, and the most 
useful instructions, that it is highly deserving 
of our serious meditation. Sarah, under one of 
the most severe trials that can befall human 
nature, that of calumny, being falsely charged 
with the murder of her husbands, and quite over- 
whelmed with grief and affliction, blesses God. 
Confessing him to be the Sovereign Lord of 
his creatures, and acknowledging that he has a 
right to do as he pleases with the works of his 
hands, she finds a source of consolation even in 



142 HOMILIES ON 

her affliction itself. Nothing can shake her faith 
in this truth, that the different events of our 
lives are ordered by an all-wise Providence for 
our good, nor lessen her confidence in the divine 
mercy and protection. She knows that the 
very chastisements of heaven are all tempered 
with mercy, and that afflictions borne with 
humble resignation to his holy will, are one of 
the most excellent means of atoning for sin, and 
disarming God's indignation. Banishing every 
human consideration, and every earthly source 
of comfort far from her thoughts, she turns to 
God alone for refuge, and with her whole heart 
fixed on the contemplation of his infinite wisdom/ 
power, and goodness, she implores his protection. 
Penetrated with the most lively sentiments of 
her own natural weakness, yet full of that con- 
fidence which a good conscience never fails to 
inspire, she offers her fervent prayers for relief 
to the throne of mercy. Like the good Tobias, 
fearing her trials might overpower her, and the 
strength of temptation prevail upon her to quit 
the path of virtue, she begs of the Almighty 
with prayers, with fasting, and with tears, either 
to clear her from the false accusation thrown 
upon her, or, if agreeable to his will, to with- 
draw her by death from the contagion of rt 
wicked world, and not suffer her to be even 
innocently an occasion of sin to others, wht> 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS 143 

might be induced to think that she had been 
guilty of the horrid crimes laid to her charge. 

Ver. 14. To thee, O Lord, (she cries out,) I turn my face, 

to thee I direct my eyes 15. I beg, O Lord, that 

thou loose me from the bond of this reproach, or else take 
me away from the earth. 

The examples of the Saints in their conduct 
under afflictions, preach to us much more power- 
fully than any precepts, of the admirable advan- 
tages to be derived from the trials and sufferings 
which are inseparable from our present condition. 
Even in the old law, what perfect models of 
resignation and patience were those holy servants 
of God, Joseph, Job, David, Tobias, &c. But 
in the new law, we have the much more perfect 
example of the divine Founder of Christianity, 
Jesus Christ himself; who, under the most out- 
rageous calumnies, insults, and cruelties, heaped 
upon him by his own creatures, even when he 
was led as a sheep to the slaughter, opened not 
his mouth ; " who, when he was reviled, did not 
revile, and when he suffered, threatened not, leav- 
ing you an example that you may walk in his 
steps." 1 Pet. ii. 21, 22. He forewarns us not to 
be surprised if we meet with persecution from 
a wicked world, since the world persecuted him, 
our Teacher and our Lord ; but, under the suffer- 



144 HOMILIES ON 

ings which befall us, to preserve that spirit of 
meekness and charity which forms the charac- 
teristic mark of his true disciples ; to seek no 
revenge, but to leave our cause in the hands 
of God, who will vindicate our innocence in 
due time, and to exercise mercy towards our 
greatest enemies. Thus shall we heap coals of 
fire, i. e, confusion, on their heads, and prepare 
for our own a cr6wn of glory. For, " blessed 
are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute 
you, and speak all that is evil against you, un- 
truly, for my sake ; be glad and rejoice, for your 
reward is very great in heaven." Matt. v. 11, 12. 

Sarah, having humbly acknowledged her sub- 
mission to the will of heaven, and expressed her 
confidence in the divine mercy, lays open the 
secrets of her heart before the Most High, and 
finds in her past innocence of life the most con- 
soling source of hope in the divine power and 
protection. 

Ver. 16. Thou knowest, O Lord, that I never coveted a hus- 
band, and have kept my soul clean from all lust 

17. Never have I joined with them that play: neither have 
I made myself partaker with them that walk in lightness. 

Happy are all those young persons, who, like 
this virtuous woman, can call with confidence 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 145 

upon the God of truth to witness the purity 
of their hearts ; can assert, that they have pre- 
served their souls and bodies free from the defile- 
ments of lust, and have carefully shunned the 
company of those whose words or example might 
have endangered their chastity! For, of all the 
snares which the enemy of mankind lays for the 
destruction of mankind, especially in youth, none 
proves in his hands so successful a weapon for 
the ruin of souls, as impurity. This is the vice 
which deluges the world with iniquity, and fills 
hell with souls. Were we permitted to take a 
view of the miserable wretches who are already 
condemned to that place of woe, and to see at 
the same time the cause of their sufferings, I 
am convinced that we should find by far the 
greater part of them suffering for some sin of 
lust. Even in this life the Almighty has fre- 
quently executed the severest of his visible judg- 
ments, as the holy Scriptures abundantly testify. 
The universal deluge which drowned all man- 
kind, with the exception of eight persons; the 
tire and brimstone that consumed Sodom and 
Gomorrah ; and the husbands of Sarah delivered 
over to the power of the devil, are lasting proofs, 
of the abomination in which God holds all im- 
purity. As none but the clean of heart will 
be admitted to the presence of his glory ; so 
npne but the clean of heart, those whose souls 

L 



146 HOMILIES ON 

are adorned with chastity, will enjoy in this 
life the presence of his grace, his favour, and his 
protection. Every unclean person, whose heart 
is stained with any of the filthy defilements of 
lust, is an object of detestation in the divine 
sight. God withdraws his gifts and graces from 
such souls, and delivers them, as he did the 
husbands of Sarah, to the power of Satan, by 
giving them up to the fury of their passions, 
and permitting those dreadful effects to ensue, 
which are the dismal consequences of impurity, 
viz. a disrelish for prayer and spiritual exercises, 
a neglect of the sacraments, a hardness of heart, 
an obstinacy in sin, and that final impenitence 
w r hich sets the seal to the sinner's eternal re- 
probation. What numbers of young persons 
have we ourselves known, my beloved brethren, 
who once walked in the path of innocence and 
purity, and promised a life of virtue conduct- 
ing to an eternity of bliss, but suddenly stopped 
short in their progress, and were seen gradually 
ik into the depth of vice and iniquity. To 
what fatal snare was this their misfortune owing? 
Was it not to the detestable sin of impurity ; 
the seeds of which were sown in their yet tei 
minds, either in those moments when their pa- 
rents, neglectful of their trust, kept no watch 
over them in their hours of leisure, sleep, amuse- 
ment, and company-, or when they themselves, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 147 

thoughtless of danger, ventured into the society 
of the abandoned and impure? Like the spot- 
less lily, which is sullied by the breath, chastity 
will not bear the breath of the unclean sinner, 
but quickly fades before it, and is lost The 
only means of preserving the inestimable trea- 
sure of purity, are, a diligent attention to those 
exercises of religion which increase and preserve 
the innocence of the soul — prayer and the sa- 
craments ; and a vigilant flying from the oc- 
casions of this sin, more especially from the 
company of those who by their evil discourse, 
immodest jests and songs, or indecent beha- 
viour and improper liberties, are the instruments 
of the devil in instilling the poison of this vice 
into the breasts of young persons. The con- 
duct of Sarah is, on this point, an admirable 
pattern for youth. The care with which she 
had shunned the company of the unchaste, 
proved, under God, the security of her virtue; 
and the consciousness of her past fidelity gave 
her consolation in her distress, and afforded 
her a well-grounded hope of the protection of 
heaven. She calls God to witness, not only 
that she had kept her heart free from the de- 
filements of lust, but that she had carefully 
avoided the society of all such as by their 
levity of behaviour or conversation might have 
proved a snare to her innocence ; and had ab- 

L2 



148 HOMILIES ON 

stained from those diversions and amusements 
which are too often the incentives to vice, such 
as promiscuous dancing, which is particularly sig- 
nified by the Latin text of this passage — ludere. 
What a reproach is the conduct of this virtuous 
person to those Christian young women, who, 
careless of danger, and without choice of com- 
pany, run with so much eagerness to an amuse- 
ment, which this faithful servant of God avoided 
as a rock fatal to innocence ! " Never," says she, 
" did I join with them that play ; neither jhave I 
made myself partaker with them that walk in 
lightness." 



Ver, 18. A husband indeed I consented to take, with thy fear, 
not with my lust. 

When arrived at a proper age, Sarah entered 
into the married state, not from any worldly or 
criminal motive, but, having the fear of God be- 
fore her eyes, with that uprightness of intention, 
and with that holy preparation, which always se- 
cure the blessing of heaven. A want of these holy 
dispositions on the part of' her husbands, was the 
occasion of their temporal and eternal destruction. 
But in speaking of them, Sarah pretends not to 
inquire into, or to fathom the ways of Provi- 
dence, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS, 149 

Vtr. 19. And either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps 
were not worthy of me : because perhaps thou hast kept me 

for another man 20. For thy counsel is not in man's 

power. 21. But this every one is sure of that worship^ 

peth thee, that his life, if it be under trial, shall be crowned ; 
and if it be under tribulation, it shall be delivered ; and if 
it be under correction, shall be allowed to come to thy 
mercy. 

Sarah, full of humility, is willing to ascribe the 
death of her husbands to her own unworthiness, 
but professes her ignorance of the designs of 
Providence, whose counsels are placed far above 
the reach of man's weak understanding. If we 
are truly animated with the spirit of the servants 
of God, we shall be content with knowing and 
acknowledging, as Sarah did, that all the dispen- 
sations of God towards his servants are designed 
for their good. If he tries them in this life, he 
will reward their fidelity in the next ; if he sends 
them afflictions, it is but for a short season ; at 
most, for the continuance of their short-lived ex- 
istence here below, and then death will be to 
them the entrance into a happiness unchangeable 
and everlasting. In fine, if he chastises them for 
their faults, his punishments operate as a salutary 
medicine, restoring health and vigour to the soul, 
and drawing down mercy to the humbled peni- 
tent. For God, as he himself declares by lus 



150 HOMtLIES ON 

prophet Ezekiel, wills not the death of sinners, 
but is desirous of their conversion. He is not 
an enemy that delights in our pain ; he is a tender 
parent even when he inflicts his scourges. He 
disturbs the quiet of our souls by raising in them 
the most alarming apprehensions of his justice, 
that, awakened to a sense of our Hanger, we may 
undertake the work of our repentance, and restore 
peace to our consciences. He excites in us the 
terrors and the anguish of a bitter contrition, that, 
being reconciled to him, we may taste that pure 
joy which is the fruit of the holy tears that ac- 
company a sincere repentance. In all his dispen- 
sations he seeks our good, and in every cir- 
cumstance of our lives he therefore most justly 
deserves our heartfelt praise and thanksgiving. 
Impressed with these sentiments, Sarah concludes 
her prayer with these words : 

Ver. 22. For thou art not delighted in our being lost, because 
after a storm thou makest a calm, and after tears and weeping 

thou pourest in joyfulness 23. Be thy name, O God of 

Israel, blessed for ever. 

The holy Scripture assures us, that the prayer 
of Sarah, like that of Tobias, was accepted of by 
Almighty God ; 

Ver. 24. At that time the prayers of them both were heard in 
the sight of the glory of the most high God 25. And 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 151 

the holy Angel of the Lord, Raphael, was sent to heal them 
both, whose prayers at one time were rehearsed in the sight 
of the Lord. 

The petitions which these two holy servants 
©f God addressed to him in the same spirit of 
faith in his power and goodness, and the same 
humble submission to the orders of his Provi- 
dence, ascended as a rich perfume to the throne 
of his mercy, and were presented to liini by the 
ministry of Angels, those blessed -" spirits who 
are appointed to minister for them that shall 
receive the inheritance of salvation/ 5 Heb. i. 14. 
The Angels are spirits created by Almighty God 
for the participation of his own glory, are em- 
ployed by him in promoting his merciful designs 
towards us, and destined one day to be our fellow- 
members in bliss. Their number is countless; 
the prophet Daniel, and St. John in the Revela- 
tions, represent millions of millions of these holy 
spirits constantly employed in praising and ador- 
ing the Author of their happiness, and in ex- 
ecuting his will. St. Paul, as above quoted, tells 
us, that the Angels are the ministers of God, 
sent by him to exercise their holy office for his 
elect. It was by the ministry of Angels that the 
law was given to the Jews, Acts vii. ; and an 
Angel, invested with God's authority, conducted 
his people through the desert into the land of 

L4 



152 HOMILIES ON 

promise. Exod. xxiii. 20. Angels present the 
prayers of the faithful before the throne of mercy, 
as the books of Tobias and the Revelations in- 
form us. These holy spirits are sometimes re- 
corded to have been the ministers of God's justice 
in the punishment of his enemies, as in the des- 
truction of Sodom, the death of the first-born 
in Egypt, and the slaughter of the army of Sen- 
nacherib before Jerusalem. Moreover, it is a 
truth founded on the words of holy Scripture^ 
and constantly delivered in the writings of the 
Fathers and the uninterrupted tradition ' of the 
Church, that we have each of us an Angel ap- 
pointed by God to be our guardian and protector. 
Thus, in the 90th Psalm*, holy David says of those 
who trust in God, " that He has given his Angels 
charge over them to keep them in all their ways ;" 
and in the 33rd Psalm, ver. 8, he tells us, "that 
the Angels of the Lord encamp round about 
them that fear him.' , Secondly, Jesus Christ him- 
self, speaking of little children, says, " Their An- 
gels who are in heaven, always see the face of 
my Father who is in heaven." Matt, xviii. 10. 
Lastly, in the 12th chap, of the Acts of the 
Apostles, it is recorded, that when Peter was re- 
leased from prison in a miraculous manner, and 
repaired to a house where the faithful were met 
to pray, they at first thought it was his Angel; 
which clearly shews that the first Christian* be 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 153 

lieved in the doctrine that each one of the faithful 
has an Angel guardian. Thus, while the evil 
spirits are continually plotting our destruction, 
the good Angels, by the appointment of divine 
Providence, lend us their powerful assistance, dis- 
cover to us the snares of our malicious enemies, 
protect us in the hour of danger, recall to us pious 
thoughts and past good resolutions ; aid us in 
conquering our passions, overcoming temptations, 
and vanquishing our enemies ; and conduct us safe 
in oiir journey through the desert of this life to 
the land of promise, the heavenly Jerusalem. Oh ! 
adorable goodness of our God, which has provided 
such admirable means of advancing our happiness ! 
Oh ! holy presence of our guardian Angel ! how 
powerfully ought the thoughts of his presence 
to encourage us in the path of virtue ! In every 
action, in every place, cries out St. Bernard, be 
mindful that you are in the company of your 
guardian Angel, and offend him not. Do not in 
his presence that which you would be ashamed 
to do in mine. The constant recollection of the 
presence of your guardian Angel will prove to you 
a most powerful protection against the tempta- 
tions of lust, and preserve you in that spotless 
purity, which will always ensure to you the di- 
vine protection, as it did to the virtuous Sarah. 
God received her prayer in her affliction, and sent 
€>ne of the Archangels, or chief spirits of his hea- 



154 HOMILIES, &C. 

venly court, for her deliverance and that of the 
virtuous Tobias. Raphael, signifies a physician 
sent from God. We admire the goodness of Pro- 
vidence in dispatching an Angel for the relief of 
his servants. Let us not forget that for our relief, 
and the cure of our spiritual infirmities, he sent 
down, not an Angel, but his own consubstantial 
Son, and delivered him up to death for us, " that 
he might redeem us from all iniquity, and might 
cleanse us to himself a people acceptable, a pur- 
suer of good works." Titus ii. 3. 



TWELFTH HOMILY. 



Cliap. IF. ver. I. Then Tobias thinking that his prayer was 

heard that he might die^ called to him Tobias his son, 

2. And said to him, Hear, my son, the words of my mouth, 
and lay them as a foundation in thy heart. 

W e now return to the history of the good 
Tobias. This holy man, fearing the dangers and 
temptations of a wicked world, and finding him- 
self, in consequence of his blindness, no longer 
able to pursue his accustomed exercises of charity, 
prayed earnestly that he might die, if it were 
the will of heaven. The holy Scripture assures 
us, that his prayer was heard by Almighty God, 
who always accepts the petitions which are pre- 
sented to him with a perfect conformity to his 
will. The effect, however, of his prayer was not 
that which Tobias expected from it. For as the 
servants of God pray with an entire submission 
of their own will to the will of Providence, 
leaving it to Almighty God to ordain what is 
most for his glory and their good, so God some- 
times regards more that humble conformity of 
their will, than the requests which they actually 



156 HOMILIES ON 

present to htm. He knows that his own glory 
is the great object of the desires of his servants ; 
if therefore he refuses the immediate subject of 
their petition, it is only to substitute in it's place 
the grant of some favour more conducive to his 
glory, and more agreeable to the designs of his 
mercy towards them. Such was the order of his 
Providence towards the virtuous Tobias. This 
holy man, thinking that his prayer was heard, and 
humbly confiding that God would soon call him 
to the reward of his labours, began to dispose 
himself for his departure out of this world. — To 
prepare for death ought indeed to be the business 
of our whole lives, and the Saints of God are 
careful to make it so, according to the advice of 
the Spirit of God, " in all thy ways remember 
thy last things, and thou shalt never sin." But 
in drawing near to their last moments, the Saints 
redouble their fervour in the divine service, and 
are more earnest in setting their house in order 
to attend the summons of their great Lord, who 
is about to demand an account o^ their steward- 
ship. Sensible of the strict account which he 
should be required to give of the manner in which 
he had discharged the obligations of a parent, 
Tobias called to him his only son, whom he had 
trained in the path of virtue, to complete his 
instruction, and to impress more deeply on his 
youthful mind the lessons of piety which were 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 157 

already implanted in his breast. The young 1 
Tobias was at this time about twenty years of 
age. His father, much reduced in his circuni- 
stances, had now little else to bequeath him but 
his virtue. Happy, however, is the parent who 
on the bed of death can leave such a Wacv to 
his children, confirmed and supported by a life 
full of good example ! And thrice happy are the 
children, who falling heirs to so rich an inheri- 
tance of virtue, cultivate and improve it like the 
young Tobias ! Let us consider the advice which 
Tobias gave to his son, as addressed to ourselves, 
and according to the directions of this holy man, 
treasure it up in our hearts as a solid foundation 
for a life of virtue. 

When his son drew near him in obedience to 
his call, Tobias, before he began his last instruc- 
tion to him, gave him directions respecting his 
own and his wife's funeral in these words : 

Ver. 3. When God shall take my soul, thou shalt bury my 
body : and thou shalt honour thy mother all the days of her 

life: 4. For thou must be mindful what and how great 

perils she suffered for thee in her womb 5. And when 

she also shall have ended her time, bury her by me. 

Though the Saints of God are well assured by 
divine faith, that God by his almighty power 
will restore them their bodies at the last, and are 



158 HOMILIES OX 

therefore little solicitous what becomes of them 
after death, being willing, if it be for the glory 
of God, to resign them to the flames, or give their 
ashes to the winds ; yet they do not condemn, 
but highly approve of the respect which is paid 
to departed friends, in the careful and decent 
interment of their bodies. Tobias, therefore, gives 
directions for his own burial ; and, as a pattern of 
that regard to his wife which he recommends 
to his son, desires that their bodies may rest in 
the same grave. Then reminding his son of the 
affection which he owes to his parents, he exhorts 
him to honour his mother all the days of her life, 
" For," says he, " thou must be mindful what and 
bow great things she suffered for thee in her 
womb." The love and affection which animals 
bear to those from whom they received their 
birth, lasts but for a short duration, till the young 
are able to supply their own wants ; but the 
love of children towards their parents, is a duty 
that continues binding until death. Jesus Christ, 
our teacher and our model, is an admirable pat- 
tern in his humble subjection to his blessed 
mother and St. Joseph, of that filial love, respect, 
and obedience, which God requires from children 
to their parents. For all these duties are in- 
cluded in that of ' honour,' which God enjoins 
by the words of the commandment. Yes, Christ- 
ian children, as you hope for the blessing of 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 159 

heaven in this life, and a share in the kingdom of 
your Saviour hereafter, you are bound, during the 
whole course of your lives, to imitate his holy 
example in your conduct towards your parents. 
To them, under God, you are indebted for the 
most valuable of all blessings, life itself. What 
anguish and pain did it cost your mothers to 
bring you into the world ! What toils and labour 
did your parents endure to support you in your 
helpless infancy ; with what anxiety did they 
watch over your tender years ! And do you not 
feel in return the most tender and affectionate 
love and reverence for them ? Oh ! as you value 
your own happiness, attend to the words of the 
Holy Ghost, (in the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiasticus, 
ver. 8,) and faithfully practise them in your lives : 
" He that feareth the Lord, will honour his father 
and mother, and will serve them as his masters 
all the days of his life." " Honour thy father in 
thy actions, thy words, and in all patience, that 
he may bless thee, and his blessing may remain 
with thee to the end. — My son, comfort thy 
father in his old age, and give him no sorrow 
during his whole life. If his understanding grow 
weak, bear with him ; and do not despise him 
because of the advantage which thou hast over 
him ; for the charity which thou shewest thy 
parent, shall not be forgotten ;" that is, God will 
hold it in remembrance, and will amply repay 



1 60 HOMILIES ON 

thee for it. — The Almighty looks with a jealous 
eye upon the behaviour of children to their pa- 
rents, whom he has substituted in his own place, 
to watch over them and provide for thenr. The 
holy Scripture is full of the divine promises of 
blessings, both temporal and eternal, to those chil- 
dren that are dutiful to their parents ; and at the 
same time threatens the severest of judgments for 
time and eternity upon those who are wanting 
in the fulfilment of these sacred obligations. Do 
you then, my dear children who now hear me, 
in the whole course of your lives, religiously ob- 
serve the injunctions of that commandment which 
says, " Honour thy father and thy mother." Shew 
an inviolable respect to your parents in all your 
words and actions, carefully abstaining from all 
harsh unbecoming language towards them. Love 
them with the most sincere affection, compassion- 
ating them in their sufferings, relieving them in 
their distresses, procuring them comfort both spiri- 
tual and temporal, and, above all, daily praying 
for them. Obey them in all their orders, where- 
ever this obedience would not be contrary to any 
duty which you owe to God ; consult with them 
in all the principal occurrences and transactions 
of your lives, «and faithfully comply with their 
advice and directions. The holy patriarchs, Isaac, 
Jacob, and others recorded in the holy Scripture, 
were admirable patterns of these duties, even after 



THE BOOK OP TOBIAS, 16f 

they were married and advanced in years. The 
same fidelity St. Paul recommends to all Christi- 
ans : " Children, obey your parents in all things, 
for this is well pleasing to the Lord." But in 
thus recalling the attention of the children to their 
obligations, let me remind you, Christian parents, 
that the fidelity of children in fulfilling their 
duties depends principally upon your faithfully 
discharging the important trust reposed in you. 
Like the good Tobias, train them up in the way 
of virtue, teach them to abstain from sin, and, 
above all, give them an edifying example of 
obedience to the commands of God and his 
Church. Then, like that holy man, you will be 
blessed with a family whose virtues will be a 
pleasing source of enjoyment to you during life, 
a solace in your declining years, and one of your 
sweetest consolations in the hour of death. To 
succeed in this truly important affair, impress 
upon the tender minds of your children that great 
truth which Tobias carefully inculcated to his 
son, as the ground-work of his instructions, viz. 
a continued sense of the presence of God. 

Ver, 6. All the days of thy life, (said this good man to his 
son,) have God in thy mind : and take heed thou never 
consent to sin, nor transgress the commandments of the 
Lord our God. 

For one of the best preservatives of virtue* 

M 



162 HOMILIES ON 

and consequently one of the best means of pre- 
venting sin, is, to have God always in our mind ; 
to think of him in all our ways ; to adore him 
in all the orders of his Providence ; to meditate 
daily on his holy law; to consult his will, by 
prayer, in all our undertakings ; and to consider 
his adorable eye as ever beholding us ; that thus 
we may be careful never to transgress his holy 
law, not from the influence of a servile fear of 
punishment, but moved and guided by a filial 
love of him, our tender and indulgent Parent, 
and placing our greatest happiness in fulfilling 
his holy will. Where is the wretch who would 
wilfully fly in the face of his Creator, profane 
his name, call down his curses, defile himself 
with beastly drunkenness, or those more filthy 
impurities which he seeks to conceal in the 
darkness of the night from the eyes of his fellow- 
creatures, did he at the moment behold the 
all-seeing eye of that God who searches the 
reins and the hearts, and to whom nothing is 
invisible, looking down upon him, and the arm 
of his justice stretched out against him ? Oh ! 
that while I am recalling to your minds this 
salutary truth of the Omnipresence of God, I 
had a voice that could penetrate into the re- 
motest corners of the earth, and the most secret 
haunts of sinners, and impress every one with 
a feeling sense of the presence of the Deity ! 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 162 

May you, at least, my beloved brethren, be mind- 
ful of this truth in every circumstance of your 
lives, and be you careful to instil it from the 
earliest years into the minds of your children ! 

After inculcating to his son this great founda- 
tion of the fear and love of God, Tobias imparts 
to him most excellent advice for the practice 
of the important duty of giving alms to the poor. 
He first acquaints him with the obligation of 
exercising this branch of fraternal charity, and 
then encourages him to the fulfilment of it, by 
pointing out the advantages which it produces 
to the soul. 



Ver. 7. Give alms out of thy substance, and turn not away 
thy face from any poor person: for so it shall come to 
pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from 

thee 8. According to thy ability be merciful 9. If 

thou have much, give abundantly ; if thou have little, take 
care even so to bestow willingly a little. 

To relieve the distresses of our fellow-creatures,, 
and to afford charity to those who stand in need 
of it, is a duty of strict obligation, pointed out 
to us both by the law of nature and the gospel, 
God, who is the common Father of all mankind, 
has bestowed upon some of his creaturesa greater 
share of temporal blessings than he has given 
to others* that those whom he has thus blessed 

M2 



164 HOMILIES ON 

may imitate his bounty, and acting as faithful 
stewards of him the Sovereign Lord, may de- 
serve from him an eternal recompense in heaven, 
by faithfully contributing to the support of those 
whom his Providence has placed in a more de- 
pendent situation. But, lest man, blinded by 
avarice and passion, should forget this to be a 
point of duty and obligation, and should look 
upon it as a matter of free choice, Almighty 
God, both in the Old and New Law, has made 
it a positive precept; declaring to us, that the 
neglect of it provokes God to inflict his severest 
judgments in this life, and entails upon the soul 
eternal damnation in the world to come. Our 
divine Redeemer, in the parable of the rich 
glutton, Luke xvi. and still more clearly in the 
account which he gives us of the last judgment, 
gives us to understand, that our sentence of end- 
less happiness or everlasting misery depends 
chiefly upon our fidelity or neglect in fulfilling 
the precept of giving alms. Matt. xxv. — Every 
one, therefore, who has the goods of this world, 
is strictly bound to employ a part of them in 
relieving the wants of others. To neglect this, 
the Holy Ghost declares is a certain proof that 
the soul loves not God. " If any one," says the 
beloved disciple, St. John, " has the goods of 
this world, and, seeing a brother in want, shuts 
up his bowels against him, how is it possible 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 165 

that the love of God should abide within him ? 
Let us not love then, in word only and in tongue, 
but in deed and in truth." Imitate, my beloved 
brethren, in this point, the conduct of the first 
Christians, by making, as they did, charity a 
part of your duty on the Lord's day. In the 
primitive ages of the Church, on every Sunday, 
a collection for the relief of the poor was made 
from all who assisted at divine service. To pre- 
vent the confusion which often attended such 
collections, the practice was afterwards adopted 
of fixing in chapels and churches a box, called 
the Poors' Box, into which the faithful might* 
without disturbing one another, put the offer- 
ings of their charity, to be employed by their 
pastor in the relief of the distressed, Never, 
therefore, leave the house of God on Sundays 
without adding at least one penny to the pro- 
perty of your poor brethren. Besides this, be 
in the disposition of mind to administer relief 
to every one as far as lies in your power, ac- 
cording to the advice of Tobias, a turn not away 
thy face from any poor person." Every dis- 
tressed fellow-creature has a claim upon our 
charity, and whenever we meet with such a one, 
if we are able we should give him an alms. 
If it lies not in our power, through our own 
poverty, to afford him temporal relief, we must 
never turn away ovir face from him with any 

M3 



166 HOMILIES ON 

contempt or harsh language, but manifest a pity 
and compassion for his distresses, and signify at 
least our good will towards him. 

After shewing the obligation of charity to the 
poor, Tobias lays down the best rule that can 
be given for the satisfying of it : " Be merciful 
according to thy ability.' 5 What would be suf- 
ficient in one person for the fulfilment of this 
duty, would not suffice in another. " From him 
to whom more has been given, more will be 
required." Whatever we possess more than is 
necessary for our support and that of our families, 
is to be considered as entrusted to our care for 
the relief of the necessitous. If then we have 
much, we must bestow in proportion ; if little, 
we are still to spare a little with cheerfulness 
of heart, " for God loveth a cheerful giver." 
2, Cor. ix. 7- It is the misfortune of the 
greater part of those who possess worldly riches, 
that they measure their wants, not by the calls 
of nature, but the cries of avarice, luxury, am- 
bition, and worldly pomp ; and hence too often 
persuade themselves, when invited to the ex- 
ercise of charity, that th-y have nothing to spare. 
In this they are unjust stewards ; and however 
exemplary their lives may have been in other 
points, this waste and misapplication of their 
Lord's goods, and their neglect of the poor 
members of his family, will prove to them, as 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 167 

it did to the rich glutton, their condemnation 
to everlasting flames. 

*< Be ye then merciful according to your abili- 
ties." This is the rule of Christian charity, a rule 
from which no one is exempted however poor. 
For mercy consists, not only in giving money 
or meat and drink to such as are in distress, 
we shew mercy when we contribute in any way 
to the temporal or spiritual welfare of our neigh- 
bour, in giving him good advice, in comforting 
him under his afflictions, in procuring his con- 
version from the ways of sin, in advancing him 
in the path to salvation, in praying for him, and 
in forgiving the injuries which we meet from 
our fellow-creatures. These are acts of charity 
of the highest order, which it is in the power 
of every one to perform, at least in some one 
or other of the branches which I have here 
mentioned. 

Mindful then, my beloved brethren, of the 
account which, at the hour of death, you must 
give of your stewardship, let it be the daily 
business of your lives to dispose yourselves for 
it by a strict fidelity in the fulfilment of all your 
obligations. Walk always as in the presence of 
that God who filleth the heavens and the earth, 
and who holds in his hand the thread of your 
existence. Embrace with joy the opportunities 
which heaven affords you of opening to your- 

M 4 



16$ HOMILIES, &C, 

selves the treasures of it's grace, by the faithful 
exercise of the works of mercy ; thus making to 
yourselves f< friends of the mammon of iniquity, 
that when you fail, they may receive you into 
everlasting mansions " Luke xvi 9* 






THIRTEENTH HOMILY. 



. IV. ver. 10. For thus thou storest up to thyself a good 

reward for the day of necessity. 11. For alms deliver 

from all sin and from death, and will not suffer the soul 
to go into darkness 12. Alms shall be a great con- 
fidence before the most high God, to all them that give it. 

Ihe holy Tobias, having inculcated to his son 
the duty of giving alms to the poor according to 
his ability, encourages him to be faithful in ful- 
filling this obligation, by setting before him the 
great spiritual advantages which are derived from 
the practice of this branch of charity. Indeed, 
if God had not made it a precept of his holy 
law, that we should relieve our distressed fellow- 
creatures, the advantages alone which flow to 
us from the exercise of this virtue ought to 
induce us religiously to practise it. The measure 
of God's mercy towards us will be proportioned 
to the mercy which we have shewn to our neigh- 
bour. " Give, and it shall be given to you ; 
for with the same measure that you shall mea- 
sure to others, it shall be measured to you again." 



170 HOMILIES ON 

Luke vi. 38. It is then most undoubtedly true, 
that he who gives an alms, reaps a much greater 
benefit than he who receives it; so pleasing is 
charity in the divine sight, so powerful in moving 
God to bestow his mercies and blessings. 

In exhorting his son to the practice of this 
virtue, Tobias advises him never to turn his 
face from any poor person, " for," says he, " so it 
shall come to pass that God will not turn his 
face from thee." In the eye of that Almighty 
Being, we are all poor and indigent; infinitely 
more so than the poorest object upon earth that 
solicits relief from us. The wants and neces- 
sities of our souls are innumerable, and none 
but God can relieve them. Should he then in 
his wrath, turn away the countenance of his 
tender mercy from us, what would become of 
us ? Deprived of his all necessary aid, destitute of 
succour from him, and void of the rich treasure 
of his grace, our souls would have no other 
prospect before them than misery, temporal and 
eternal. What more powerful motive then can 
we desire for the practice of charity to our fellow- 
creatures, than to be assured by Almighty God 
himself, that this is the certain means of securing 
to ourselves the favourable regards and the kind 
assistance of his mercy? Borne on the wings 
of charity, our prayers mount without opposition 
to the throne of the Deity, and open to us the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 171 

treasures of his mercy. " Break thy bread with 
the hungry, and invite the needy into thy house ; 
when thou shalt see one that is naked, clothe 
hiin. Then come and cry to the Lord thy God, 
and he will hear thee." Isaiah Iviii. 

But, my beloved brethren, the giving of alms 
according to our ability, not only draws down 
the mercy of God in this life, and inclines him 
to lend a favourable ear to our prayers ; Tobias 
assures us, that the faithful practice of this virtue 
will store up for us a rich treasure and a great 
reward for the day of necessity. That day is 
the day of judgment, the day of the final dis- 
tribution of God's justice, when he will render 
to each one according to his works. Then shall 
the earthly and perishable goods, which we have 
put into the hands of the poor, be transformed 
into heavenly and eternal treasures. When the 
hand of death shall have stripped us of our 
worldly riches, and nothing shall remain to us 
but our works, which will accompany us to the 
tribunal of our Judge, then shall we behold again 
in the hands of our divine Redeemer, whatever 
we have given to him in the persons of his 
poor members. For Jesus Christ, that same all- 
merciful Saviour, who for our salvation clothed 
himself with the infirmities of our nature, suf- 
fered so many indignities, and so cruel a death 
en. the cross, declares, that whatever we do to the 



172 HOMILIES ON 

poor, he considers as done to himself, and as 
such will recompense it when he shall appear 
as the Sovereign Judge of Angels and of men. 
"Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it 
to one of these my least brethren, you did it 
to me." 

In the third place : " Alms deliver from all sin, 
and from death, and will not suffer the soul to 
go into darkness :" that is, into eternal damnation. 
When the haughty Nabuchodonosor was threat- 
ened by God with the severest judgments, in 
punishment of his pride, the prophet Daniel gave 
him this advice : " O king, redeem thy sins by 
alms-deeds, and thy iniquities by relieving the 
poor." Daniel iv. 24. Not that the giving of 
charity to the poorxan alone and of itself cleanse 
away the guilt of sin, and confer the grace of 
justification. No, my beloved brethren, God is 
not a corrupt judge that can be bribed by pre- 
sents. But, if the sinner, however enormous his 
guilt may have been, entering into sentiments 
of sincere compunction, and sighing under the 
load of his iniquities, joins to his prayers and 
contrition the exercise of frequent acts of mercy 
to the poor, his alms, thus accompanied with 
the dispositions of true repentance, will most 
powerfully plead for mercy, and draw down the 
grace of a sincere conversion. Thus alms are of 
the highest advantage to every description of per- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 173 

sons; to the sinner they prepare the way for 
his conversion, and render his desires of repent- 
ance efficacious; to the true penitent they are 
the most excellent means of redeeming his past 
sins ; and to the just they serve as an expiation 
of those smaller stains from which none, however 
holy, are exempt, and as a means of obtaining 
the grace of perseverance to the end in the path 
of virtue. 

Lastly, my beloved brethren, " alms shall be 
a great confidence before the most high God, 
to all them that give it." The same divine 
oracles which tell us, that judgment without 
mercy shall be passed upon such as have not 
shewn mercy, moreover assure us, that our best 
security for mercy in that awful moment when 
we shall be summoned before the Sovereign 
Judge, will be the acts of charity and mercy 
which we ourselves have sent before us to his 
tribunal. This is particularly true of those works 
which tend to promote the glory of God, the 
advancement of religion and piety, and the sal- 
vation of souls. Such works as these, in that 
day of calamity and misery when the heavens 
and earth shall be consumed by fire, and the 
sinner, trembling at the left-hand of the Judge, 
shall in vain call upon the hills to cover him 
and hide him from the wrath of God, will 
inspire confidence and hope, will disarm the 



174 HOMILIES ON 

anger of our Judge, and cover a multitude 
of sins. 

Be ye then merciful, according to the ability 
with which God has blessed you. But in per- 
forming the duties of charity, seek not the ap- 
plause of men ; have always in view, as the end 
of all these and your other acts of virtue, solely 
the glory of God, and the gaining of eternal life. 
For it is only to acts of charity performed with 
this pure intention, that the spiritual advantages 
and blessings which I have mentioned, are pro- 
mised by Almighty God. 

After these admirable lessons of charity, Tobias 
earnestly exhorts his son to fly from all impurity. 

Ver. 13. Take heed to keep thyself, my son, from all fornica- 
tion, and beside thy wife never endure to know a crime. 

Oh ! that in directing the same advice to you, 
my beloved brethren, I could be ensured that 
it would be as religiously followed by you, and 
attended with the same happy fruits in each 
member of that dear flock whom Providence 
has entrusted to my care ! Sensible of the dreadful 
havock which the devil makes among Christian 
souls by the filthy vice of impurity, fortify your- 
selves against all it's assaults by fervent prayer, 
by earnest watchfulness, by a constant sense of 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 175 

the presence of God, by carefully flying the com- 
pany and the resorts of the lustful, by frequently 
meditating on your last end, and, abave all, by 
cultivating in your souls the most profound humi- 
lity. For impurity is very often the punishment 
of pride, as the apostle St. Paul plainly inculcates 
in his Epistle to the Romans, chap. xi. ver. 22. 
speaking of the heathens, he says, " professing 
themselves to be wise, theyjbecame fools; God 
gave them up to the desire of their heart, to 
uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among 
themselves. — For this cause God delivered them 
up to shameful passions, receiving in themselves 
the recompense that was due to their error." 
Knowing that pride opens the door of the heart 
to the passion of lust, and: that humility is the 
best guardian of purity, Tobias continues his ad- 
vice to his son in these words : 



Ver. 14. Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind or in thy words, 
for from it all perdition took it's beginning. 

Pride is the worst and the deepest of all the 
wounds caused in the soul of man by the disobedi- 
ence of Adam. It is so implanted in our cor- 
rupt nature, that utterly to destroy it is almost 
impossible. To fight against it's suggestions, to 
weaken it's power, and to prevent it from ruling 



176 HOMILIES OK 

over our thoughts, words, and actions, is the daily 
employment marked out for us in our mortal 
existence. To succeed in this task, we must ever 
cherish in our minds the opposite sentiments of 
Christian humility ; meditating often on our own 
nothingness, on our ingratitude to God, and the 
uncertainty that hangs over our future lot ; be- 
having with mildness and affability to all ; despi- 
sing no one, however inferior to ourselves ; and 
bearing, in a spirit of meekness, the frailties, im- 
perfections, and even injuries of our fellow-crea- 
tures. Faithfully attending to these principles 
as our guide, we shall triumph over this subtle 
enemy, which is indeed the root of evil. For 
pride was the occasion of the eternal destruction 
both of Angels and of men ; pride was the parent 
of sin and hell. It is at the same time the first 
and the greatest of all sins, and that which God 
holds in the greatest abhorrence, because it strikes 
directly at his sovereign majesty and infinite 
perfections, claiming to itself the excellence and 
the glory which belong to him alone. Yet, so 
inherent is pride in our very nature, since the 
fall of Adam, that we are at each moment in 
danger from some one or other of it's mortal 
wounds, unless by a constant watchfulness, and 
by cherishing in our breasts a solid humility, we 
provide ourselves with an antidote against it's 
deadly poison. 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 177 

Ver. 15. If any man hath done any work for thee, immediately 
pay him his hire, and let not the wages of thy hired servant 

stay with thee at all 16. See thou never do to another 

what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee by another. 

Such are the lessons Tobias gives his son to 
regulate his conduct towards his neighbour. To 
do to others as we wish them to do to us, is the 
abridgment of all the duties of brotherly love 
enjoined by the gospel. It is a rule extremely 
simple in itself, but very extensive in it's obliga- 
tions. With this rule all our thoughts, words, 
and actions, that regard our conduct towards our 
fellow-creatures, will one day be compared at the 
judgment-seat of Christ. Do you then, my be- 
loved brethren, make this maxim the invariable 
rule of your behaviour towards others, that you 
may avoid that dreadful confusion and severe con- 
demnation which will one day befall those who 
by their frauds, their injustices, their rash judg- 
ments, their calumnies, and their detractions, shall 
stand charged with having violated this grand 
principle of fraternal charity. As to those per- 
sons whom you employ to work for you, strictly 
fulfil the injunction of holy Tobias to his son, 
by paying them their hire when it is due. To 
do otherwise, to keep back unjustly the wages 
of the labourer, is a crime so contrary to justice 
and charity, that it is declared in holy writ to 

N 



178 HOMILIES OK 

be one of those more enormous sins which cry 
to heaven for vengeance in this life, over and 
above the eternal • condemnation which is the 
ordinary punishment of grievous transgressions. 
" Behold," says St. James, v. 4. " the hire of the 
labourers, who have reaped down your fields, 
which by fraud has been kept back by you, 
crieth : and the cry of them hath entered into the 
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Tobias thus pro- 
ceeds : 

Ver. 17. Eat thy bread with the hungry and the needy, and 

with thy garments cover the naked 18. Lay out thy 

bread and thy wine upon the burial of a just man, and do not 
eat and drink thereof with the wicked. 

Tobias here alludes to a custom which pre- 
vailed among the Jewish people, of making an 
offering at the tombs of their departed friends. 
The offering consisted of bread and wine, or other 
meats, which, after being laid upon the tomb 
of the dead person, were distributed among the 
poor, to procure their prayers for the departed 
soul. Tobias, however, takes care to inform his 
son, that these prayers could be of no service to 
the wicked, who die enemies of God, in a state 
of mortal sin, but only to the just, who depart 
this life in the grace of God, but with some 
lesser stains upon the soul, which may be ex- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 17$ 

piated by the charities and prayers of the living. 
Christianity teaches the same doctrine ; and in the 
records of every country that has received the 
light of the Christian religion, we find the custom 
of praying for the dead introduced and established 
as a part of the faith delivered by Christ and 
his Apostles. St. Irenaeus expressly mentions this 
custom in the second century ; and the great St. 
Augustine tells us, in his confessions, with what 
earnestness his pious mother on her death-bed 
besought him to remember her soul in the sacred 
mysteries, and with what reverential care he ful- 
filled her devout request. Tobias, in recommend- 
ing his son to observe this pious practice, common 
among his countrymen, of bestowing charity in 
behalf of the dead, charges him to invite to these 
repasts such only as fear God and lead a life of 
virtue, lest these feasts of charity should degene- 
rate into excess and drunkenness. 



Ver. 19. Seek counsel always of a wise man. 

This is another important lesson which Tobias 
delivers to his son. The Holy Ghost, by the 
mouth of the wise man, (Eceles. xxxii. 24.) gives 
the same advice : " My son, do nothing without 
counsel, and thou shalt not repent after thou 
hast done." In effect, we cannot entertain too 

¥2 



180 HOMILIES ON 

great a mistrust of our own lights and prudence. 
This diffidence in ourselves should lead us to 
embrace with gladness the opportunities of im- 
proving ourselves by the knowledge and experi- 
ence of others, by asking advice, particularly of 
those whom God has appointed our spiritual 
guides, the pastors of the Church. If we are 
faithful on our part in thus seeking direction from 
the prudence of others, God will not fail to put 
into the minds and the mouths of those whom 
we consult, the sentiments and the advice neces- 
sary to promote our welfare. In short, it is he 
who speaks to us by the mouth of those prudent 
persons with whom we advise ; upon him there- 
fore principally we are to rely for guidance and 
direction. It is what holy Tobias tells his son 
in the very next verse : 

Ver. 20. Bless God at all times ; and desire of him to direct thy 
ways, and that all thy counsels may abide in him. 

Oh ! how many admirable lessons of piety, how 
many great and important obligations are in- 
cluded in these few words! Bless God at all 
times ; be always mindful of him in your hearts, 
in the midst of the hurry and employment of 
the day, during the repose of the night, in afflic- 
tion and in prosperity, at all times and in all 
places bless God, by making him the end of all 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 181 

your actions, and performing them all to his 
glory. In all your ways implore the guidance 
of his holy Spirit, consult his will in all your 
undertakings, relying not upon your own lights 
and prudence, but upon that wisdom and know- 
ledge which he never fails to infuse from above 
into the breasts of those who put their whole 
confidence in him and truly seek his glory. Thus 
placing yourselves under the guidance of his Pro- 
vidence, you will, as Tobias assures his son in 
the conclusion of his advice, have nothing to fear 
from the malice of your enemies, however low 
and apparently wretched your condition may be. 



Ver, 23. Fear not, my son, said that holy man ; we lead indeed 
a poor life, but we shall have many good things, if we fear 
God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good. 

The fear of God, innocence of life, and an hum- 
ble conformity to the will of Providence, are a 
treasure far surpassing all the contemptible riches 
of this earth, making the soul a pleasing dwelling- 
place and abode for the God of heaven during 
this life, and adorning her with those spiritual 
riches that will procure her admission into the 
glorious mansions of never-ending felicity in the 
life to come. 



N3 



FOURTEENTH HOMILY. 



Chap. IV. ver. 21. I tell thee also, my son, that I lent ten talents 
of silver, while thou wast yet a child, to Gabelus, in Rages, 
a city of the Medes, and I have a note of his hand with 

me: 22. Now therefore inquire how thou mayest go to 

him, and receive of him the aforesaid sum of money, and 
restore him the note of his hand. 

Xn the three preceding homilies, I have unfolded 
to you, my beloved brethren, those admirable les- 
sons of instruction which Tobias, thinking, in 
consequence of his blindness, that he was about 
to die, imparted to his son as his last advice. 
That holy man, having thus fulfilled the most 
important part of his obligation as a parent, in 
providing for the spiritual welfare of his child, 
completes his preparation for death, by giving 
proper directions for the settlement of his tem- 
poral concerns. This is a duty which every 
parent, possessed of any property, owes to his 
family. Moreover, it is a duty which Christian 
parents should take care to discharge, as Tobias 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS 183 

did, while yet their health and understandings are 
good, and not neglect it till sickness and the 
near approach of death scarce leave them the 
use of their faculties, or till the moments allotted 
to this task can ill be spared from the more 
important concern of disposing their souls for 
judgment. A good Christian who lives in the 
constant expectation of his last summons, and 
in a daily preparation for it, will be careful, by 
making his will during health and strength, so 
to dispose of his temporal affairs as to satisfy 
the duties of justice and charity. Tobias, as I 
have before observed, is in this respect a model 
for Christians. During his prosperity, he had 
lent his kinsman Gabelus the sum of ten talents 
of silver, to assist him in providing a proper 
maintenance for his family. The sum was con- 
siderable,, and apparently was all that remained 
to Tobias of his former affluence. Judging it, 
therefore, to be a duty which he owed to his 
family to recall that sum of money, and know- 
ing that his kinsman, by his success in business, 
was able to repay it, he desires his son to look 
out for a guide, under whose care he may safely 
undertake a journey to Gabelus's house, and at 
the same time gives him directions how to re- 
cover the money. The young Tobias, trained up 
in the path of obedience, cheerfully complies with 
his father's wishes. 

N4 



184? HOMILIES ON 

Ckap. V. ver. 1. Then Tobias answered his father, and said: 
I will do all things, father, which thou hast commanded me. 

2. But how I shall get this money I cannot tell: he 

knoweth not me, and I know not him : what token shall I 
give him ? Nor did I ever know the way which leadeth 
thither. 

The young Tobias meant not, by these questions 
and observations, to detract from the assurance 
which he had given his father of his readiness 
to comply with his injunctions ; but, foreseeing 
the difficulties which he might have to encounter, 
with the greatest prudence he respectfully opens 
his mind to his father, and solicits his advice. 



Ver. 3. Then his father answered him, and said : I have a note 
of his hand with me, which when thou shalt shew him, he 

will presently pay it 4. But go now, and seek thee out 

some faithful man, to go with thee for his hire ; that thou 
mayst receive it while I yet live. 

The young Tobias had started two difficulties 
which presented themselves to his mind ; the one, 
how he should make himself known to Gabelus, 
the other, by what means he should discover the 
road that would conduct him to his kinsman's 
house. His father removes the first difficulty by 
telling him, that Gabelus, a man of strict honour 
and integrity, as soon as he shall see the note, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 185 

will immediately acknowledge his own hand-wri- 
ting and pay the money; and to obviate the 
second difficulty, relating to his journey, advises 
his son to seek for a faithful guide to conduct 
him. 



Ver. 5. Then Tobias going forth found a beautiful young man, 

standing girded, and as it were ready to walk 6. And 

not knowing that he was an Angel of God, he saluted him 

and said: From whence art thou, good young man? 

7. But he answered, Of the children of Israel. And Tobias 
said to him: Knowest thou the way that leadeth to the coun- 
try of the Medes 8. And he answered: I know it; and 

I have often walked through all the ways thereof, and I have 
abode with Gabelus our brother ; who dwelleth at Rages, a 
city of the Medes, which is situate in the mount of Ecbatana. 

9. And Tobias said to him : Stay for me, I beseech thee., 

till I tell these same things to my father. 

As soon as the young Tobias had with modesty 
and prudence proposed the difficulties which he 
apprehended from the long journey that he was 
about to undertake, and had received his father's 
instructions how to proceed, he lost no time in 
complying with the wishes of his parent. Ready 
obedience always draws down the blessing of 
heaven upon itself. The world laughs at the 
humble simplicity with which the Saints follow 
the directions of those whom God has placed 



186 



HOMILIES ON 



over them, and ridicules this part of their con- 
duct as the emblem of a weak mind. But the 
wisdom of this world is folly before God, and 
while he conceals the wonders of his Providence 
from the proud and self-conceited, he unfolds 
them to the humble and the little ones, who, 
diffident of themselves, seek light and counsel 
from above. No sooner had the young Tobias, 
in obedience to his father's advice, set out in 
search of a guide, than he meets with one, in 
the outward appearance of a man, but in reality 
an Angel deputed by divine Providence in re- 
ward of his obedience, to conduct him on his 
journey and administer the blessing of heaven 
to himself and his parents. How admirable is 
the goodness which God manifests towards his 
faithful servants ! With what tender care does he 
watch over them ! Truly, he regards them as the 
apple of his eye ; as the hen gathereth her chick- 
ens under her wings, he extends the protecting 
wings of his Providence over those who trust 
in him, and gives his Angels charge over them 
to keep them in all their ways. Ps. xc. His 
infinite goodness and love for us, not content with 
rendering the visible creation subservient to our 
wants and necessities, has appointed the spirits 
that surround his throne, the inmates of his 
heavenly court, to attend upon us in our pilgrim- 
age through this life of temptation and trial, and 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 187 

to exercise their ministry in favour of those who 
are heirs of salvation. Heb. i. 14L 

It is not necessary, my beloved brethren, to 
repeat here what I have delivered to you in a 
former instruction as the doctrine of the Church 
of Christ, respecting the offices and employments 
of the holy Angels as far as regards this world 
in which we live Every book of the inspired 
writings teaches us, that Angels were employed 
by Almighty God as the instruments of his mer- 
ciful designs, both towards his whole people and 
towards the individuals who are recorded as his 
more faithful servants. On the occasion at pre- 
sent under our consideration, the Angel sent by 
God to watch over the young Tobias, took the 
appearance of a young man of the people of 
Israel, an appearance under which Angels are 
frequently mentioned in Scripture, clad as a tra- 
veller, and on the point of undertaking a long 
journey. Tobias meeting him, accosted him in an 
affable manner, and asked him whence he came ? 
He replied, that he was of the children of Israel, 
and was well acquainted with the road to Rages, 
and knew personally his kinsman Gabelus. In 
all this reply of the Angel, there is nothing but 
what is conformable to the strictest truth, since 
Providence had clothed him with the shape, the 
countenance, and outward appearance of the per- 
son whom he represented himself to be, whose 



188 HOMILIES ON 

name he assumed, and whom he might with per- 
fect propriety call himself, till he had fulfilled 
the part which in that character Almighty God 
had allotted him. The young Tobias was over- 
joyed at meeting so opportunely with a fellow- 
traveller. Yet he did not suffer his joy to get 
the better of his prudence, or the respect which 
he owed to his father ; but, resolving to do no- 
thing without his parent's advice, desired the 
young man, as he took him to be, to stay while 
he communicated his good fortune to his father. 



Ver. 10. Then Tobias going in, told all these tilings to his 
father. Upon which his father, being in admiration, desired 

that he would come in unto him 11. So going in, he 

saluted him, and said, Joy be to thee always. 

Tobias, on being informed by his son that he 
had met with a proper guide, well acquainted 
with the road which he was going and the 
kinsman whom he intended to visit, felt a double 
emotion of pleasure, arising from his joy at the 
good news, and his admiration at the kindness 
of Providence. He immediately invited the 
young stranger to his house, who, coming in, 
addressed the good old man in the salutation 
usual among the Jewish people ; " Joy, or peace, 
be to you." Inward peace of soul, and the 
spiritual joy attendant upon it, are the greatest 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 189 

blessings we can look for on this earth, Happy, 
indeed, is that soul which feels this peace within 
herself, conscious of her own faithful endeavours 
to walk in the way of God's commandments, 
having all her affections and passions in proper 
subjection, and breathing a spirit of peace and 
charity towards every fellow-creature ! This three- 
fold peace Jesus Christ bequeathed as his last 
and best legacy to his disciples; and when he 
sent them to convert the world, he appointed 
them the harbingers of peace, enjoining them, 
into whatever house they entered to implore for 
it the same heavenly blessing : " Into whatever 
house ye shall enter, say first, peace be to this 
house." Luke x. 5. His Church, guided by the 
spirit of her divine founder, directs her ministers 
in visiting the sick, to make use of the same 
pious salutation, "Peace be to you." — Tobias, when 
he heard this salutation addressed to him, not 
knowing as yet who the stranger was, thought 
that the joy which the young man wished him, 
might be a mere human joy, such as worldlings 
seek in the pursuit of earthly pleasures. 

Ver. 12. And he (Tobias) said: What manner of joy shall 
be to me., who sit in darkness, and see not the light of 
heaven ? 

This holy man had resigned himself with the 



190 HOMILIES ON 

most perfect submission to the will of God under 
the severe affliction of his blindness. The holy 
Scripture testifies that he murmured not, but 
gave thanks to God all the days of his life. In 
his reply, therefore, to the Angel on this occasion, 
he signifies, that, as heaven had deprived him 
of that faculty upon which worldly pleasure so 
much depends, he had bid adieu to earthly joys, 
and had fixed his desires of comfort on the solid 
happiness in a future state, which he trusted 
would be the reward of his cheerful submission 
to the appointments of Providence. We can 
hardly imagine a more severe trial than that 
which had befallen Tobias in his blindness, and 
he himself seems, by his reply to the Angel, to 
have been fully sensible of thtr weight of his 
affliction : " What manner of joy shall be to 
me who sit in darkness, and see not the light 
of heaven." Yet, on the other hand, guided by 
that solid virtue which chastens and keeps within 
proper bounds the feelings of nature, he bears his 
affliction, not only without murmuring, but with 
interior joy. 

If it be so great a misfortune to be deprived 
of the sight of our bodily eyes, how much more 
dreadful an evil is it to be deprived of the light 
of the soul, which is no other than God himself, 
the eternal light, without whom all within us 
is darkness and death itself! Such is the un- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 191 

happy state of every soul that is in a state of 
wilful sin. Ah ! how many are there thus spiri- 
tually blind, yet insensible of their unhappy 
condition ! Pray for all such, my beloved brethren, 
I conjure you by the bowels of the mercy of 
Christ Jesus ; pray that God will send some one 
of his Angels, that is, his ministers, to work 
their cure, as he sent his Angel for the relief 
of Tobias. 



Ver. 13c And the young man said to him: Be of good courage, 
thy cure from God is at hand. 

Tobias having mentioned his affliction, the 
Angel consoles him with the assurance that God 
is about to remove the cause of it, by restoring 
his sight. To this the holy man, as he did not 
yet know that it was an Angel who addressed 
him, made no reply, but resolved with perfect 
resignation to await the dispositions of divine 
Providence. He proceeds to make the necessary 
inquiries respecting the guide who had offered 
to conduct his son. 



Ver. 14. And Tobias said to him: Canst thou conduct my son 
to Gabelus, at Rages, a city of the Medes : and when thou 

shalt return, I will pay thee thy hire 15. And the Angel 

said to him, I will conduct him thither, and bring him back 



192 



HOMILIES, &C. 



to thee. And Tobias said to him : I pray thee, tell me, of 

what family, or what tribe art thou? 17. And Raphael 

the Angel answered : Dost thou seek the family of him thou 

hirest, or the hired servant himself to go with thy son? 

18. But lest I should make thee uneasy, I am Azarias the son 

of the great Ananias 19. And Tobias answered : Thou art 

of a great family, but I pray thee, be not angry that I 

desired to know thy family 20. And the Angel said 

to him, I will lead thy son safe, and bring him to thee 

again safe 21. And Tobias answering, said, May you 

have a good journey, and God be with you in your way, 

and his Angel accompany you 22. Then all things 

being ready that were to be carried in their journey, Tobias 
bid his father and mother farewell, and they set out both 
together. 



In the questions which Tobias put to the 
angel Raphael, whom he thought to be in reality 
that which he was in appearance, a young man 
of the race of Israel, this holy man was not 
prompted by an idle curiosity, but an earnest 
desire of providing for the welfare of his son, 
by entrusting him in the hands of a person on 
whose prudence and virtue he could rely. The 
Angel, to remove his anxiety, tells him his name, 
that is, the name of the person whom Providence 
had appointed him to represent, and who ap- 
pears, by the satisfaction which this name gave 
to the good Tobias, to have been one of this 
holy man's acquaintance. Satisfied that the guide 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 1&3 

v/ho had offered his services might safely be en- 
trusted with the care of his son, Tobias implores 
the blessing of heaven upon their journey, and 
prays that his good Angel may accompany them 
on their road. His prayer had already been heard 
and anticipated by the bounty of God. The 
attendance of the angel Raphael on the young 
Tobias, is an emblem of the invisible assistance 
afforded us during our mortal pilgrimage by the 
Angels appointed by Providence to guard us. 
Hearken then to the words w r hich God addressed 
to his people in the desert, and consider them 
as directed to each of you : " Behold I send my 
Angel before you, to guard you in the way, 
and to lead you into the promised land. Re- 
spect his presence, and despise him not, for h^ 
is invested with my authority," Exod. xxiii. go, 






FIFTEENTH HOMILY, 



Chap. V. ver. 23. And when they were departed, his mother 
began to weep, and to say : Thou hast taken the staff of our 

old age, and sent him away from us 24. I wish the 

money for which thou hast sent him, had never been 

25. For our poverty was sufficient for us, that we might ac- 
count it as riches, that we saw our son. 



A he character of Anna, the wife of Tobias, 
was, as I have before observed to you, my be- 
loved brethren, very different from that of her 
husband. Tobias, animated by a true spirit of 
religion, views the hand of God in every cir^ 
cumstance that befalls him ; and, anxious only 
for the fulfilment of the divine will, relies with 
confidence on the protection of that Almighty 
Being who never forsakes those who put their 
trust in him. On the other hand, Anna, guided 
by a worldly spirit, and acting from the impulse 
of the feelings of nature, studies the gratification 
of her own will, is disheartened at the least dif- 
ficulty, is out of humour at every little trial, 
and frets at the dispositions of divine Providence, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS, 195 

because she looks no further than present enjoy- 
ment, and considers not that the momentary tri- 
bulations of this life are designed to work for us 
an eternal weight of glory in the life to come. 
In this her want of faith and confidence in the 
goodness of God, Anna has but too many imi- 
tators among Christians, who by their murmuring 
and impatience under the trials which Providence 
in it's mercy ordains for their spiritual good and 
the exercise of their virtue, lose all the merit 
of then* afflictions, and make them a source of 
real misery, both temporal and eternal. Anna, 
who, on a former occasion, had complained so 
much of the evil of poverty, now murmurs 
and is uneasy because she is for a short time 
deprived of the sight of her son, though divine 
Providence had given her such plain proofs that 
her son was under it's holy care and protection, 
and though his journey was undertaken with a 
view to remove that very -poverty. Tobias seeing 
her affliction, endeavours to console her by in- 
stilling into her breast the same holy sentiments 
of piety which governed his own heart. 



Ver. 26. And Tobias said to her: Weep not, our son will arrive 
thither safe, and will return safe to us, and thy eyes shall 

see him 27. For I believe that the good Angel of God 

doth accompany him, and doth order all things well that 
are done about him, so that he shall return to us with 

02 



196 



HOMILIES ON 



joy 29. At these words his mother ceased weeping, 

and held her peace. 

Though the holy Tobias did not yet know that 
the stranger who had offered to conduct his son 
was actually an Angel of the Lord, yet, from 
the circumstances which had transpired, he was 
satisfied that his son was under the special 
guidance of Providence, and that God would 
depute one of his holy Angels to direct his steps. 
These sentiments of Tobias clearly demonstrate 
that the faith of the ancient servants of God, 
who preceded the Christian dispensation, respect- 
ing guardian Angels, was the same as that of 
the Catholic Church of Christ. What love and 
gratitude do we not owe to the infinite goodness 
of our God who has provided such powerful aids 
for our weakness, and such admirable helps for 
us in our journey through the desert of this 
life ! What profound reverence and respect ought 
we on every occasion to manifest towards that 
guardian Spirit who is appointed by divine Provi- 
dence to conduct us safe through the perils of 
our mortal pilgrimage, to inspire us with holy 
thoughts, to warn us of danger, to assist us with 
good counsel, to remove from us what might 
injure our virtue, and to point out to us, and 
lead us in, the path to eternal life ! Let us faith- 
fully imitate the young Tobias in receiving with 
gratitude the succours of our invisible guide, in 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 197 

listening with docility to his holy counsels, and 
in faithfully following his heavenly directions- 
Let us ever make it a part of our morning, 
noon, and evening devotions, to implore a con- 
tinuance of his protection. The assurance which 
Tobias gave to his wife, that their son was under 
the protection of God's holy Angel, imparted 
comfort to her, and dried her tears. The holy 
Scripture then proceeds to recount for us the 
journey of Tobias in the following manner. 

Chap. VI. ver. 1. And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed 

him, and he lodged the first night by the river of Tigris 

2. And he went out to W3sh his feet, and behold a monstrous 

fish came up to devour him 3. And Tobias being afVaid 

of him, cried out with a loud voice, saying : £ir, he cometh 

upon me 4. And the Angel said to him : Take him by 

the gill and draw him to thee. And when he had done so, 
he drew him out upon the land, and he began to pant before 

his feet 5. Then the Angel said to him: Take out the 

entrails of this fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and 
his liver for thee : for these are necessary for useful medi- 
cines 6. And when he had done so, lie roasted the 

flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way : the 
rest they salted as much as might serve them till they came 

to Rages the city of the Medes 7. then Tobias asked 

the Angel, and said to him : I beseech thee, brother Azarias, 
tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou 
hast bid me keep of the fish 8. And the Angel answer- 
ing, said to him : If thou put a little piece of it's heart upon 
eoals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of d«- vils, either 

OS 



198 HOMILIES ON 

from man or from woman, so that tliey come no more t© 

them 9. And the gall Is good for anointing the eyes in 

which there is a white speck, and they shall be cured. 

That same Almighty Being who created the 
universe^ is the Sovereign Kuler of it, and governs 
it as he pleases To promote the designs of his 
infinite power, his wisdom, and his mercy, he 
renders all things subservient to his will. Some- 
times he makes use of even the meanest and 
most insignificant of his creatures, for the pur- 
pose of conferring the greatest of his blessings 
upon man. Of this truth, the Sacraments of the 
Christian Church are a clear and astonishing 
proof. In one of them (Baptism) he gives to simple 
water, by the power of his word, the efficacy 
of cleansing the soul from the foul stain of sin, 
adorning it with the brightest ornaments of 
grace, and raising it to the dignity of a child of 
God, heir of heaven, and joint-heir with Christ. 
In another of these sacred institutions, (the holy 
Eucharist,) God with a truly admirable love, em- 
ploys the lowly elements of bread and wine as 
the instruments of producing in our souls the 
most excellent of all the operations of his in- 
finite power and goodness, a union with him 
our God and Saviour. In the Gospel, Jesus 
Christ is recorded to have made use of clay 
mixed with spittle, for effecting the cure of a 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 199 

man who had been born blind. On another oc- 
casion, he orders Peter to cast his hook into the 
sea and draw out the first fish which he should 
take, to open it's mouth and take out of it a, 
piece of money which he should find there. 
It is thus that God at the same time displays 
his own omnipotence and confounds the pride 
of man, making use of the simplest of his crea- 
tures for bringing about those ends which man, 
with the utmost exertion of his talents and 
abilities, could never accomplish. The portion of 
Scripture which I have chosen for your present 
instruction, informs us, that at the very same 
time when Tobias went to the river Tigris tq 
wash his feet, a monstrous fish, by the order 
of Providence, made it's appearance, and 
towards him. Tobias was at first alarmed, an4 
called out to his guide for protection. The 
Angel quieted his fears, bidding him lay hold 
of the fish without the least alarm, and draw 
it on shore. He did so, and the fish after beat- 
ing itself about for sqme time, expired at his 
feet. The Angel then let him know, that divine 
Providence had sent this fish, partly as a pro- 
vision for his journey, and partly as a p 
from the snares of the devil, and for the cure 
pf his father's blindness It is not for us to 
search into the ways of Omnipotence, and ask 
why God acts in. this or that particular manner- 

04 



200 



HOMILIES ON 



or how the gall of this fish could prove a remedy 
for blindness, or it's heart and liver chase away- 
evil spirits, and allay the heat of concupiscence. 
Let us content ourselves with adoring the won- 
ders of the Almighty, and with knowing that 
it pleased God on this occasion to make use of 
these humble instruments of his .power and mercy 
in confounding the power of the proud infernal 
spirit, and in promoting the happiness of his own 
faithful servants. 



Vtr. 10. And Tobias said to him (the Angel) : Where wilt 

tfiou that we lodge? 11. And the Angel, answering, 

said: Here is one whose name is Raguel, a near kinsman 
ef thy tribe, and he hath a daughter, named Sara, but he 

hath no other son or daughter beside her 12. All his 

substance is due to thee, and thou must take her to 

w if t . 13. Ask her, therefore* of her father, and he will 

give her to thee. 

The young Tobias, learning from his guide 
that he was now drawing near to the end of his 
journey, began to inquire where himself and 
his companion were to lodge. The Angel, in 
satisfying him upon this question, took occasion 
to open to him some of the secret dispositions 
of divine Providence in his favour, telling him 
that he should lodge at the house of Ins relation 
Raguel, and that he should marry the daughter 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 201 

of his kinsman, and inherit his property. For, 
according to the Mosaic law, if a parent had no 
male issue, his daughters inherited his possessions, 
but with an obligation of marrying a person of 
their own tribe and family. Tobias was no 
stranger to the history of Sara, Raguel's daughter, 
tis appears from his answer to the Angel, when 
lie had mentioned the subject of marriage to 
him. For, 

Ver, 14. Then Tobias answered, and said : I hear that she hath 
been given to seven husbands, and they all died : moreover 

I nave heard that a devil killed them 15. Now I am 

afraid lest the same thing should happen to me also: and 
whereas I am the only child of my parents, I should bring 
down their old age with sorrow to hell, 

The miserable and untimely death of Sara's 
seven husbands, who, in punishment of their lust, 
had been delivered by the justice of God to 
the power of an evil spirit for destruction, had 
reached the ears of the young Tobias, and filled 
him with terror. Not knowing as yet the cause 
of their unhappy end, lie trembled lest the same 
fate might befall himself; and Being ever alive 
to the most tender feelings of filial affection, he 
feared lest by a similar misfortune he should 
overwhelm his aged parents with affliction, and 
bring down their gi-ey >rrow to the 



202 HOMILIES OX 

grave. The holy Scripture uses the word hell 
in three different significations, generally ao mean- 
ing the place of eternal misery ; hut sometimes, 
in the sense of the word grave ; or, at other times 
as the place of rest, in which the souls of the 
ancient Saints were detained until the accom- 
plishment pf the redemption wrought by Jesus 
Christ. In either of the latter significations it 
may be understood in the present portion of holy 
writ. 



Ver. 1 6. Then the angel Raphael said to him: Hear me, and 
I will shew thee who they are over whom the devil can 
prevail 17- For they who in such manner receive matri- 
mony, as to shut out God from themselves and their mind, 
and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and the 
mule, which luive not understanding, over them the devil 
hath power. 

Tobias having mentioned his fear of asking 
Raguel's daughter in marriage, in consequence of 
the dreadful fate of her former husbands, the 
Angel gives him to understand that their misera- 
ble death was the punishment of their lust, and 
of the criminal dispositions with which they en- 
tered into the state of matrimony. The sin of 
lust, which is in all it's branches and in every 
state of life so abominable in the sight of God, 



THE BOOK OF T03IA.S. 203 

is the peculiar object of his hatred and of his 
vengeance, when committed by married persons 
in direct violation of the sanctity of their state. 
God himself is the author and institutor of mar- 
riage. He was pleased at first to appoint it as 
the means of continuing to the end of time a 
race of beings, who, gifted with an immortal 
soul capable of rising to the knowledge and 
love of him their Creator, might form a con- 
stant succession of his true adorers and faithful 
servants. The glory of God is therefore the end 
of marriage, and his will is it's rule. Whatever, 
either in the intention with which persons enter 
into marriage, or in the use of marriage, is not 
referred to this end, or is not directed by this 
rule, is irregular and vicious, and sometimes even 
highly criminal. In marriage every thing is ho- 
nourable, every thing is holy, if we consider it 
according to the design with which God insti- 
tuted it. Much more is it holy, if we consider 
it in the dignity to which Jesus Christ has raised 
it as a sacrament of the New Law, and as a myste- 
rious sign of the indissoluble union which sub- 
sists between Jesus Christ and his chaste spouse 
the Church. Such is the light in which St. Paul 
represents it (Eph. v. 23.), and the Church makes 
use of the same terms in conferring the nuptial 
benediction, in order to impress upon the minds 
of her children the holiness of disposition with 



"U4> HOMILIES ON 

which they should enter the married state. To 
engage in that sacred state with no other in- 
tention than that of satisfying a base and carnal 
passion, is to imitate the horse and the mule, 
who, being void of understanding, know no other 
rule than the momentary impulse of nature ; it 
is prostituting one of the most sacred institutions 
of the Deity, and voluntarily delivering oneself 
to the power of the devil, like the seven first 
husbands of Sara, for eternal destruction. But, 
alas ! my beloved brethren, how small is the 
number of young persons, who entering into the 
state of matrimony, are careful to banish from 
their souls every unbecoming motive of carnal 
passion, worldly interest, and the like ! How few, 
by a pure intention of God's glory, and of having 
a family whom they may bring up in the fear 
and love of God; by watchfulness over their 
conduct, and by frequent and fervent prayer, 
endeavour to draw down the blessing of heaven 
upon their marriage ! How few among those, 
who are already married, live up to the holiness 
of their state, and sanctify the use of marriage 
by a holy intention, and by abstaining from all 
actions contrary to the end for which it was 
instituted ! Unhappily the greater part of those 
who engage in matrimony, either by unguarded 
conduct beforehand, or by having no other ends 
in view when they enter into matrimony than 




THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 205 

the gratification of their passions, or by unbe- 
coming liberties afterwards, shut out God from 
their hearts, draw down a curse upon themselves 
and their families, and are too often given over 
to the power of the devil. But do you, dear 
Christians, to whom I am now addressing my- 
self on so important a point of duty, give ear 
to the lessons which the Angel addressed to the 
young Tobias respecting his marriage. 



Ver. .18. But thou, when thou shalt take her, go into the cham- 
ber, and for three days keep thyself continent from her, and 

give thyself to nothing else but to prayer with her. 

19. And on that night, lay the liver of the fish on the fire, 

and the devil shall be driven away 20. But the second 

night thou shalt be admitted into the society of the holy 

Patriarchs 21. And the third night thou shalt obtain 

a blessing, that sound children may be born of thee 

22. And when the third night is past, thou shalt take the 
virgin with the fear of the Lord, moved rather for love of 
children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham thou maye-t 
obtain a blessing in children. 

Some part indeed of the Angel's advice to 
Tobias, understood literally, regarded that holy 
young man in particular, and consequently is not 
meant to apply to others ; such as the abstaining 
for three nights from the consummation of mar- 
riage, the burning of the liver of the fish, and 



206 HOMILIES ON 

the like. But what is spiritually meant by this 
part of the Angel's advice, is applicable to all 
Christians who engage in marriage j that they 
should take care to enter that holy state free 
from the violence of passion, and consecrate to 
God their first union by a pure intention, an 
upright desire and holy prayer; that as Tobias 
by burning the liver of the fish drove away 
the devil, they should carefully banish all carnal 
desires, destroy the power of concupiscence, by 
a pure motive of the love of God, and by fer- 
vent united prayer implore his blessing upon 
their union, both for themselves individually, and 
the fruit of their marriage. The Ansel exhorts 
Tobias to take the virgin with the fear of the 
Lord. These few words point out a rule for the 
use of the marriage-bed. This use is holy and 
lawful whenever it is accompanied by the fear 
of the Lord, that holy fear which excludes from 
the heart and intention every thing that would 
offend Him who is infinite purity and holiness. 
Let not married persons deceive themselves by 
imagining that, because they are married, every 
thing which passion suggests is lawful. To think 
thus, is to be ignorant of the very first principles 
of religion. The end of marriage is, as I have 
shewn you, the glory of God and the generation 
of children. Whatever is opposite to this end 
in the conduct of married persons, is a horrible 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 207 

crime ; a profanation of their holy state. What- 
ever does not tend to this end, is in itself irregular 
and displeasing before God. Nor are married per- 
sons exempt from sin, if they seek for the mere 
satisfying of carnal pleasure in the use of marriage, 
rather than the fulfilment of the end for which 
it was instituted. Would to God, that all mar- 
ried persons were impressed with a due sense of 
the holiness of their state, and the duties which 
it imposes upon them ! But, alas ! how little are 
these duties known ; how seldom are they thought 
of; and, consequently, how few are the marriages 
which are accompanied with the blessing of hea- 
ven ! How great is the number of those which 
have an evident curse entailed upon them, both 
for time and eternity ! — As the state of marriage 
is that which the greater part of mankind em- 
brace, it is most undoubtedly true, that the happi- 
ness or misery of a great proportion of mankind, 
depends upon the manner in which they engage 
in it. Sensible of this truth, I earnestly conjure 
you to whom I now address myself, ever to bear 
in mind the holiness of that state, and the end 
for which it was instituted. If you are already 
engaged in matrimony, endeavour to make your- 
selves acquainted with every branch of the truly 
important duties of your state, and carefully ab- 
stain from whatever is contrary to the holy use 
of marriage. If you are looking forward to that 



268 HOMILIES ON 

state of life, have chiefly in view the glory of 
God, and the sanctincation of your souls ; be 
watchful over all your conduct, especially when 
in company with those for whom you entertain 
an aifection, and take care that no unbecoming 
thought, desire, or action, stain the purity of 
soul, or shut the door of your heart against the 
grace and love of God. By fervent prayer, by 
faithfully following the advice of your director, 
and by frequenting the holy sacraments, secure 
the benediction of heaven upon your undertaking. 
Thus will you share in the blessings which the 
Angel promised to Tobias ; viz. the devil shall 
be driven far from you ; your name shall be 
enrolled with the names of the holy patriarchs, 
as inheritors of the divine blessing, and heirs of 
eternal life ; and lastly, the blessing of heaven 
shall extend to the fruit of your marriage, and 
shall communicate itself to your children, who, 
blessed with soundness and health of bod}', and 
with virtuous dispositions of soul, shall prove a 
source of joy and comfort to you during life, and 
at the last day shall enter with you into the 
possession of that eternal bliss which God has 
promised to those who, like Abraham, faithfully 
serve and adore him. 



SIXTEENTH HOMILY. 



Chap, VII. ver. 1. And they went in to Raguel, and Raguel 

received them with joy 2. And Raguel looking upon 

Tobias, said to Anna his wife : How like is this young man 

to my cousin? 3. And when he had spoken these words, 

he said: Whence are ye, young men our brethren? 

4. But they said : We are of the tribe of Nephthali of the 

captivity of Ninive 5. And Raguel said to them : Do you 

know Tobias my brother ? And they said : We know him. 

6. And when he was speaking many good things of him, 

the Angel said to Raguel : Tobias, concerning whom thou 

inquirest, is this young man's father 7- And Raguel 

went to him, and kissed him with tears, and weeping upon his 
neck, said : A blessing be upon thee, my son, because thou 

art the son of a good and most virtuous man 8. And 

Anna his wife and Sara their daughter wept. 

JL obias and his heavenly guide on their arrival 
at the house of his kinsman Raguel, with whom 
the Angel had told him that they should lodge, 
is received with that hearty welcome, and those 
outward marks of joy, that plainly designated the 
inward satisfaction which Raguel felt in dis- 

P 



210 



HOMILIES ON 



charging the duties of friendship and hospitality. 
A cheerful countenance adds greatly to the weight 
of a favour ; while, on the other hand, coldness 
of behaviour, and a seeming reluctance in exer- 
cising an act of friendship or benevolence, take 
away a great part of the merit as well as the 
value of a kind action. It was the saying of a 
heathen philosopher, that he who gives readily 
and cheerfully, confers a double favour : " Bis dot, 
qui citd dat." — In directing us to fulfil the obli- 
gations of kindness and benevolence towards 
our fellow-creatures, the holy Scripture mentions 
cheerfulness as one of the dispositions that should 
always accompany such actions. " God," says 
St. Paul, " loves a cheerful giver." " Use hospita- 
lity" says St. Peter, " one towards another, with- 
out murmuring. As every man hath received 
grace, ministering the same one to another, as 
good stewards of the manifold grace of God" 
1 Peter iv. 8, 9. Moreover, in exercising friend- 
ship and hospitality towards either friends or 
strangers, we must not only banish all coldness, 
murmuring, and seeming reluctance, we must be, 
careful not only to avoid all sordid or worldly 
motives from such, actions, but sanctify them by 
a pure intention of pleasing God. In them we 
perform one of the most common, though at the 
same time one of the most amiable duties of 
brotherly love. It was thus that the holy Tobias, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. SH 

his kinsman Raguel, and the great father of 
these and the other servants of God among his 
chosen people, Abraham, exercised the duties of 
benevolence, friendship, and hospitality, towards 
their fellow-creatures. Raguel, as soon as the 
Angel and Tobias entered his house, received his 
visitors with joy ; though he did not yet know 
who they were, or whence they came. Listen- 
ing only to the dictates of ,a kind and benevolent 
heart, he gave them a truly hospitable reception. 
In the countenance of the young Tobias he dis- 
covered a resemblance of his own virtuous rela- 
tion, the elder Tobias ; for whom he appears .to 
have entertained not only the affection of a friend, 
but a very high degree of veneration, on account 
of Ins great virtues. As soon, therefore, as he had 
welcomed the strangers to his house, he asked 
them whence they came ; and hearing that they 
came from Ninive, and belonged to the tribe of 
Nephthali, he inquired after his old and virtuous 
friend Tobias, whom he called his brother, that is, 
in the language of Scripture, a near relation. 
Being told that his visitors were well acquainted 
with that holy man, Raguel could no longer re- 
frain from expressing his sentiments of esteem and 
veneration for him. He spoke with admiration 
of his virtues, saying many good things of him, 
and passed a high encomium on his holy life and 
edifying conduct. 

P % 



212 



HOMILIES OX 



See, dear Christians, the force of good example, 
how widely it's influence spreads, how great is 
it's efficacy, and how admirable it's fruits i Though 
Tobias was, in comparison with many others, an 
obscure individual, the fame of his virtues had 
reached his brother captives at a very great dis- 
tance, and no doubt many were influenced by 
his holy example to lead a life of piety, to bear 
their afflictions with resignation, to despise the 
world, and to consecrate their lives to the prac- 
tice of virtue. " To every one," says the wise 
man, " hath God given charge of his neighbour." 
(Wisdom). And while, on the one hand, we are 
bound to abstain from whatever in word or action 
might prove an injury to our neighbour, especi- 
ally as to his soul ; we are, on the other hand, 
under a strict obligation of endeavouring to pro- 
mote his spiritual welfare and salvation, at least 
by holy example and pious conversation. That 
there is nothing which has so powerful an influ- 
ence on the conduct of mankind as example, 
every one who pays the slightest attention to 
what daily passes in the world must be fully 
convinced. Alas! what more successful engine 
does the devil employ for the destruction of souls, 
than the evil example of the wicked. Like a 
torrent unrestrained in it's devastating course, evil 
example sweeps down every thing before it, and 
not only hurries along with it into the infernal 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 213 

gulph the vicious, the tepid, and the lukewarm 
Christian, but too often undermines the founda- 
tions of solid piety, and proves the eternal des- 
truction of many who would have been Saints 
had they possessed the courage to withstand the 
force of evil example. On the other hand, how 
efficacious is the edifying example of but one of 
God's faithful servants ! How many by that ex- 
ample are reclaimed from the path of vice ; how 
many are confirmed in virtue, encouraged to fight 
manfully the battles of their Lord, taught to 
triumph over the obstacles to salvation, and con- 
ducted to their crown ! The gift of tongues, and 
the power of working miracles, which the Al- 
mighty bestowed upon the first Christians, did 
not half so much towards effecting the conver- 
sion of the heathen world, as did their holy lives, 
their edifying conversation, and the bright light 
of their incomparable virtues. Their preaching, 
unaccompanied by the practice of virtue, would 
have been an empty sound ; their miracles might 
have excited momentary sensations of wonder and 
astonishment ; but unsubdued by conviction, the 
heathens would have entertained no other senti- 
ments than those of contempt for the preachers, 
and indifference to their cause. But when they saw 
those who thus announced themselves as having 
credentials from heaven to communicate tidings 
of salvation to the world, exhibiting at the same 

P3 



214 HOMILIES ON 

time a bright example of every virtue ; whetr 
they beheld them pious, meek, disinterested, poor 
in spirit, despising the world, charitable even to 
their greatest enemies, and willing to lay down 
their lives for the glory of God and the salvation 
of souls; unable to withstand the bright glare 
of conviction which the torch of truth thus pre- 
sented to their minds, they renounced their preju- 
dices, embraced not only the doctrines but the 
virtues of their Apostles, and animated with the 
same spirit, ennobled and propagated the faith by 
a similar edifying and holy example. 

You, my beloved brethren and fellow-members* 
of the holy Catholic Church, have, by a distin- 
guishing act of God's mercy, been called to the 
true faith ; you have succeeded to this rich and 
glorious inheritance, the pledge of God's love 
for you, and the foundation of your own best 
hopes. Like the first Christians, you live in the 
midst of those who view the faith which you 
profess through the medium of misrepresentation 
and prejudice, and look upon yourselves with an 
eye of ridicule and contempt. Cut off from the 
unity of the fold of Christ, and strangers to the 
blessings that are to be found only in the com- 
munion of the true Church of Christ, they have 
the strongest of claims upon your charity and 
compassion. You are bound daily to implore at 
the throne of mercy, the grace of their conversion ; 



THE BOOK OP TOBIAS 215 

and much more are you under the strictest obli- 
gation of labouring to bring them to the l:now- 
ledge of the truth by good example. If your 
souls are warmed with one spark of gratitude 
for the inestimable spiritual benefits which God 
has bestowed upon yourselves ; if your breasts 
feel the least glow of true charity ; if you are 
animated with any real love for that Saviour 
who gave himself a victim for man; can yoii 
behold those souls, for whom he died no less than 
for you, wandering in the paths of infidelity or 
error, in danger of eternal destruction, and not 
feel the obligation of endeavouring* by a holy 
life and pious conversation, to procure their con- 
version, and promote their eternal salvation? 
They hear you continually boasting of the holi- 
ness of your faith, and of the Church to which 
you belong ; and sometimes, perhaps, witness the 
able defence which you make of your religion, 
when attacked, in the way of argument. But, 
believe me, they judge of the merits of your 
cause, not by your words or professions, but by 
your actions and your lives. If, then, while they 
hear you loudly proclaiming and defending the 
truth of your faith by argument, they see your 
lives pass in a slothful neglect of some of the 
most essential duties of a Christian, or stained 
with crimes that would disgrace even a heathen, 
either proud of their own moral superiority, or 

P4 



£16 



HOMILIES ON 



disgusted with your shameful inconsistency of 
conduct, they become more deeply rooted than 
ever in their prejudices against your religion, and 
more ready to believe the foul aspersions thrown 
out against your faith. My God ! what accu- 
mulated vengeance will one day fall upon the 
heads of those unhappy men who shall stand 
accused of having thus brought a scandal upon 
religion by their wicked lives, and of having 
proved an obstacle instead of a help to the con- 
version and salvation of their neighbour ! When 
I look at the lives of some among you who now 
hear me, and reflect at the same time on the 
terrible account which God will one day demand 
from you, of the use you have made of the true 
faith, and the blessings attached to it, I am struck 
with horror, and could almost wish, with the 
Apostle, that I might sink into annihilation ra- 
ther than witness the dreadful scene of your 
judgment and condemnation. In labouring, as 
a minister of God, to reclaim the ignorant and 
the sinner, there is no greater obstacle which I 
meet with than the evil examples and disedifying 
lives of those among you who live not up to 
the holiness of your faith. Oh! that I could 
prevail upon every one of you, my dear flock 
in Jesus Christ, by a virtuous conduct, and the 
steady practice of every duty, to labour with 
me in propagating the true faith, and promoting 



THT BOOK OF TOBIAS. 

.Ivation 01 iat happy fruits of re- 

pentance would then crown the prayers and tan 
of our holy mother the Church on earth, and 

j the blessed spirits in heaven ! WJ 
glorious eonversio adorn the Catholic 

faith, and increase the happy numbe 
professors, destined to be heirs of eternal lii 

re is nor one among you, my beloved brethren, 
however obscure may be the station in which 
Providence has placed him, who has it not in 
. by a holy example, to aid the labours 
of his pastor, to co-operate with him in pro- 
curing the salvation of some one or other of 
those dear hom Christ died, and thus 

secure to himself a share in that reward which 
is promised to those who instruct others unto 

tice: "they shall shine like stars for a".'. 
nity* Impressed with these truths, which I have 
e deliverer a. and sei : the obli- 

gation under wi u are, of endeavouring, 

at least by good example, to promote your 
neighbours salva: be the constant prac- 

tice of your lives to manifest in your actions 
the holiness of the faith which you profess. Like 
the good Tobias, spread around you the sweet 
odour of a holy life and virtu satiorL 

Let your light so shine before men, that they 
may see your good mrks, and glorify your 
Far:, wko is in heaven? Matt v. 16. * Having 



218 HOMILIES ON 

your conversation good among the Gentiles, (the* 
adversaries of your faith,) that whereas they speak 
against you as evil doers, considering you by 
your good works, they may give glory to God in 
the day of visitation." 1 Peter, ii. 12. But, my 
beloved brethren, the happy fruits of your good 
example and virtuous lives will not be confined 
to the propagation of the true faith, and the con- 
version and salvation of your neighbours. Great 
indeed as are these fruits, there are other no 
less happy effects which will flow from your 
edifying lives. The heart may conceive, but 
neither the tongue nor the pen can express, that 
delicious feast of the soul, that inward delight 
and satisfaction, that holy and unmixed joy, which 
enraptures the mind at the consciousness of a 
life spent in virtue ! The past time full of merit, 
the present gilded with hope, the future crowned 
with a glorious reward, all present to the soul 
of the truly just man and faithful servant of 
God, an uninterrupted source of consolation and 
holy joy, and furnish him upon earth with a 
foretaste of heaven. 

Moreover, the virtuous Christian reaps another 
most excellent fruit of his holiness of life, and 
pious example, in the blessing of heaven upon 
those who are most dear to him, his children and 
family. He beholds these tender plants, nurtured 
by his care, and trained by his holy example, 



TEtE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 2l# 

growing to maturity, rich in every virtue, prop- 
ping and consoling his declining years, and throw- 
ing a shade of comfort and joy even over his 
grave. This the holy Scripture unfolds to us in 
the history of Tobias, both in the present portion 
of it under our consideration, and in other parts 
of it. Raguel, who had long been an admirer 
of the virtues of Tobias, was overjoyed when 
he found that his visitors were acquainted 
with that holy man. But, when informed by 
the Angel that the young man who accompanied 
him was the son of his virtuous friend, he could 
no longer restrain his tears. Himself, his wife, 
and daughter, wept for joy ; beholding in the 
young Tobias the happy fruits of his father's 
pious care, and an image of his virtue. Raguel, 
falling upon the young man's neck, embraced 
him, and exclaimed : " A blessing be upon thee, 
my child, because thou art the son of a good 
and most virtuous man." 

Heaven, my beloved brethren, rewards in 
children the virtues of their parents. As you 
value then the happiness of your tender offspring, 
crown all your other endeavours for their good, 
by a holy and virtuous example. Without this, 
all the lessons of virtue which you may give 
them will be fruitless ; accompanied with good 
example, your lessons will take root in their 
minds, and bring forth fruit in season. In- 



220 HOMILIES, &C. 

lieriting from you the rich treasure of virtue, they 
will inherit together with it, the blessing of 
heaven. Like the young Tobias, during their 
journey through this mortal life, they will be 
under the special guidance of divine Providence ; 
«ach circumstance of their lives will mark the 
all-protecting care of the Deity; the Angel of 
the Most High will guide their steps, direct 
their ways, counsel them in their doubts, remove 
their dangers, console their afflictions, receive 
their expiring breath, and conduct their souls 
to the mansions of eternal felicity. 



SEVENTEENTH HOMILY. 



Chap. VII. ver. 9. And after they had spoken, Raguel com- 
manded a sheep to be killed, and a feast to be prepared. 

And when he desired them to sit down to dinner, , 

10. Tobias said : I will not eat or drink here this day, 
unless thou first grant me my petition, and promise to give 
me Sara thy daughter. 

;g?0fltillh 

JL ou have seen, my beloved brethren, the 
cheerfulness and joy with which Raguel received 
his visitors, even before he knew who they were, 
or whence they came. But when he learned that 
one of these strangers was the son of his revered 
kinsman Tobias, he wept for joy. As soon as 
he had given vent to the feelings of nature, and 
passed a short time in friendly inquiries and 
social conversation, Raguel ordered a feast to be 
prepared for the entertainment of his guests; 
and when it was ready, invited them to dinner. 
But the young Tobias, who had previously re- 
ceived instructions from his heavenly guide in 
what manner he was to act, declared to Raguel, 
that he would neither eat nor drink in his house 
unless his kinsman would first consent to give 



222 



HOMILIES ON 



him Iris daughter in marriage. This sudden de- 
claration of Tobias may at first sight appear 
strange ; but there is no doubt, that, in the 
conversation which had passed between Raguel 
and Tobias, the important subject of the mar- 
riage of his daughter had been touched upon. 
Indeed the Greek text clears up the difficulty, 
relating the conversation of these holy men more 
at length, and mentioning certain circumstances 
which preceded and naturally led to the appa- 
rently strange and hasty declaration of the young 
Tobias. This holy young man, attentive to the 
Angel's advice and directions, after the first salu- 
tations of friendship were over, asked Sara in 
marriage of her father. Raguel, full of af- 
fection for Tobias, and knowing what had hap- 
pened to the former husbands of his daughter, 
at the same time that he expressed the most 
sincere regard for the young man, advised him 
to give up all thoughts of the marriage, and 
rather think of making merry, and enjoying him- 
self by sitting down to the feast prepared for 
him. It was then that Tobias, instructed by the 
Angel, solemnly declared that he would not eat 
or drink with his kinsman, unless he would first 
consent to his marriage with Sara. The book 
of Genesis, xxiv. 35. records an example of a 
similar behaviour on the part of Abraham's ser- 
vant, Eliezer ? when he was sent by his master 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 225 

to demand Rebecca in marriage for his son Isaac. 
Eiiezer being arrived at Jhe house to which he 
had been sent, was immediately invited to take 
some refreshment ; but he replied, " I will not 
cat until I have declared to you the business 
upon which I am come." In effect, he did not 
sit down to table until he had received a pro- 
mise that Rebecca should return with him to 
espouse his master's son Isaac. 

Another difficulty, arising from the conduct 
of the young Tobias on this occasion, here pre- 
sents itself. Is it not astonishing that this holy 
young man, who 5 in all other circumstances of 
his life appears to have been influenced by such 
sentiments of respect and affection for his pa- 
rents, should have thought of engaging himself 
in marriage without their consent, nay, without 
having so much as consulted them ? For, it may 
be asked, is it not a part of the duty which 
children owe to their parents, to consult them 
on this important step, and to follow their di- 
rections? Yes, dear Christians, it is most un- 
doubtedly the duty of young persons thus to act, 
and a duty of strict obligation, from which nothing 
can excuse them, but either the inability to com- 
ply with it, or an evident opposition between 
the will of thek parents and that of Almighty 
God. It may sometimes happen that vicious 
or worldly-minded parents, who have nothing 



2M HOMILIES ON 

in view but temporal motives, may advise their 
children to contract marriages which would en- 
danger their eternal salvation; or, actuated by 
the same unchristian motives, may oppose their 
making such an engagement in the married 
state, as the will of God, learnt by holy prayer 
and the advice of their director, manifestly points 
out for them. In such cases, children are cer- 
tainly to prefer the will of God and their eternal 
salvation, before the corrupt motives and perverse 
will of their parents ; but preserving, at the same 
time, both in their inward sentiment and in their 
outward behaviour, that respect and affection, 
from which nothing can dispense them. 

The young Tobias, at the time of his proposal 
of marriage with Sara, was at the distance of 
many days' journey from his parents, and it was 
therefore impossible for him to make known to 
them his intentions, and ask their consent. Be- 
sides, he acted on this occasion by the direction 
of the heavenly guide, whom Providence had 
deputed to conduct his steps. He did not indeed 
know as yet that his companion was actually 
an Angel of the Lord ; but by the piety, pru- 
dence, and excellent instructions which he had 
witnessed from his guide, accompanied by the 
interior motions of grace with which the Holy 
Ghost at the same time touched his own heart, he 
was convinced that God spoke by the mouth 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 223 

of his companion and director, and consequently 
that it was his duty faithfully to put in practice 
all his counsels and instructions. 

I have before observed to you, my beloved 
brethren, that the care which the angel Raphael 
took of the young Tobias^ is an emblem, of tho 
invisible protection afforded us by the holy Angels 
whom God has appointed to be our guardians 
during our mortal pilgrimage. The history of 
the young Tobias, moreover discovers, to. our 
view some of those admirable springs by which 
divine Providence directs the visible creation, and 
§o disposes both the animate and inanimate part 
of it as to promote the good of his elect. In 
the truly important affair of the marriage of 
Tobias, an affair on which the happiness, of tl\i§ 
young man for time and eternity so much de- 
pended, nothing is left that can be ascribed to 
chance or human prudence ; all is guided and 
directed by the hand of God in the clearest 
manner, to shew that a holy and happy marriage 
is the work of God and not of men. " Father 
and mother," says the book of Proverbs, " give 
houses and riches; but it is the Lord himself 
who gives a wise wife." xix. 14; that is, a wife 
filled with piety and the. fear of the Lord ; for, 
in the language of holy Scripture, wisdom and 
piety are inseparable from each other. The same 
truth the Church of God inculcates in the prayer* 

Q 



226 



HOMILIES ON 



which she offers up at the end of the mass that 
is celebrated for imploring the blessing of heaven 
upon a Christian marriage : " O God, who alone 
art master of the heart of man, who knowest 
and governest all things by thy Providence, if 
thou joinest together, no one can separate ; if 
thou givest a blessing, no one can hinder the 
salutary effects of thy benediction." 

A holy and happy marriage is therefore the 
work of God, and at the same time one of his 
choicest blessings. The Christian who hopes 
to enjoy this blessing, must dispose himself for 
it by entering into that holy state with a pure 
intention of the glory of God, and of answering 
the end for which matrimony was instituted. 
But that he may not fail in this truly important 
step, he must, in the first place, seek instruction, 
and endeavour to make himself thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the nature of this sacred insti- 
tution, the dispositions requisite for approaching 
to it worthily, and the obligations arising from 
it. For your instruction, my beloved brethren, 
I intend to give each of these points a full and 
clear discussion. 

In order to form a just notion of marriage, 
let us go back to it's first institution by our 
Creator himself, in the garden of paradise. After 
the formation of the first man Adam, the book 
of Genesis, ii. 28, represents Almighty God as 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 2£? 

speaking and acting in the following manner. 
" The Lord God said : It is not good for man 
{ to be alone. Let us make for him a help like 
to himself. — Then the Lord God sent a deep sleej> 
upon Adam ; and while he slept, he took out one 
of his ribs, and put flesh in the place of it ; and 
the Lord God formed the woman out of the rib 
which he had taken from Adam, and brought 
her to Adam. Then Adam said: this is now 
bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.— For 
this reason, man shall leave his father and mother, 
and shall adhere to his wife, and they two shall 
be one flesh." These words, which, as the Coun- 
cil of Trent observes, the first man spoke by the 
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, teach us that mar- 
;iriage, according to it's first institution, is a union 
of man and woman, formed by God himself, for 
their mutual comfort during life ; a union more 
close than that which binds us to those from 
whom we received our birth ; a union, in fine, 
which nothing but death can dissolve. " What 
God hath put together, let no man separate," says 
our divine Redeemer, speaking of the bond of 
marriage. Such was the marriage union in it's 
natural state and primitive institution. But in 
the New Law, that is, in the Christian dispensa- 
tion, this natural union is raised to the dignity 
of a holy union and religious ceremony, blessed 
with the grace which God, by virtue of the merits 

Q2 



228 HOMILIES ON 

and the institution of Jesus Christ, has annexed 
to the ministry of the Church and the nuptial 
benediction, in order, says the Council of Trent, 
to perfect the natural love of man and wife, to 
confirm their union, and to sanctify married per- 
sons. 

The apostle St. Paul gives us a still higher 
idea of the marriage union of Christians, telling 
us, that it is a sign and mysterious representa- 
tion of the holy, spiritual, and indissoluble union 
which subsists between Jesus Christ and his chaste 
spouse the Church. Explaining this mystery to 
the Ephesians, he says, " Let women be subject 
to their husbands in the Lord, for the husband 
is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of 
the Church. Therefore, as the Church is subject 
to Christ, so also let wives be subject to their 
husbands in all things. And you, husbands, love 
your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and 
delivered himself up for it, that he might sanctify 
it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word 
of life ; that he might present it to himself a x 
glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, nor 
any such thing, but that it should be holy and 
without bjemish. So also ought men to love 
their wives as their own bodies. — For this cause 
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall 
cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one 
flesh. This is a great mystery, or sacrament, I 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 229 

speak in Christ and in the Church." Eph. v. 22. 
kc. I wish that all Christians who are already 
engaged, or think of engaging, in the married 
state, would weigh well these words of St. Paul, 
and impress upon their minds the holiness of 
Christian marriage. The Church of God, the 
faithful interpreter of the divine word, conform- 
ably to this doctrine of the Apostle, has ever 
taught that matrimony is dne of the sacraments 
of the New Law ; that is, one of those excellent 
institutions which the divine goodness has ap- 
pointed for conveying to the souls of Christians 
the grace of God. Matrimony, says the holy 
Council of Trent, being more excellent in the 
evangelical law than it was before the coming 
of Christ, on account of the grace annexed to 
it by Jesus Christ, it is with reason that the 
holy Fathers, Councils, and the universal tradi- 
tion of the Church, have, in every age, taught 
that it is to be reckoned among the sacraments 
of the New Law. It is therefore a point of faith, 
that whoever enters into the married state with 
proper views and intentions, with purity of con* 
science, and with an earnest desire of sanctifying 
his soul and fulfilling the important obligations 
of matrimony, receives by virtue of this sacred 
institution, an abundant supply of divine grace 
to enable him to support the difficulties and to 
fulfil the duties of that holv state. But this 

Q3 



230 HOMILIES ON 

supply of divine grace is given to those only 
who bring to the sacrament of matrimony the 
holy dispositions which I have just mentioned. 
If Christians, therefore, when they engage in ma- 
trimony, have no other objects in view than the 
acquirement of a fortune, the possession of beauty, 
wit or talents, or the gratification of passion, 
not only are their marriages no better than those 
of heathens, they are much worse in the sight of 
God, being so many profanations of one of his 
most holy and most merciful institutions. 

The apostle St. Paul would have all Christians, 
as truly followers of Christ, to seek the divine 
glory in every circumstance of their lives : " Whe- 
ther you eat or drink, or whatever else you do, 
do all for the glory of God." 1 Cor. x. 31. Of 
how much more consequence then, and of how 
much greater obligation is it, that we should act 
under the guidance of this truly Christian prin- 
ciple of seeking the glory of God when we per- 
form any acts of religion, more especially when 
we approach to any of the holy sacraments, of 
which matrimony is one, and one of very great 
importance, for the happiness of a great pro- 
portion of Christians is closely connected with it. 
It is this view to the glory of God, this acting 
from a spirit of religion, which properly makes 
a Christian marriage. A good Christian engages 
in marriage, not from any motive of worldly 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 



231 



Interest, ambition, or passion; he seeks a wife, 
with whom, in the midst of the employments and 
occupations of the world, he may dedicate a due 
proportion of time to the service of God and 
holy prayer ; who may share with him the pains 
and pleasures of this life in perfect union of heart 
and affection, and who may faithfully concur with 
him in the virtuous education of their common 
family. These are the objects which Christians 
should have in view when they think of entering 
into the married state. 

Having thus explained to you, at length, the 
nature of matrimony, both in it's primitive in- 
stitution and in it's new dignity as a sacrament 
of the Christian Church, together with the views 
"tytith which Christians are to engage in it, I shall 
reserve for another discourse the important obliga- 
tions of married persons. For the present I 
shall add a few words of advice to young persons 
on the preparation necessary for those who wish 
to secure the divine blessing upon their marriage. 
In the first place, as their engaging in marriage 
is one of the most important steps of their whole 
life, and that on which happiness or misery, both 
for time and eternity, greatly depends, young 
persons, before they come to any determination 
on this point, should endeavour, by holy prayer 
and by fervently approaching from time to time 
to the holy sacraments of penance and the eu- 

Q4 



232 



HOMILIES ON 



charist, to learn the will of God ; whether it is 
conformable to his will that they should enter 
into that state, arid more particularly whether 
the object- of their choice is agreeable to his 
divine appointment for them. In the second 
place, after having used their good endeavours 
to learn the will of God on these two important 
points, and being satisfied, as far as it is possible 
to be satisfied in our present state of darkness 
snd uncertainty, both by their own inward lights 
and the direction of their pastor, that they are 
acting in conformity to the divine wall in enter- 
ing into that holy state, let them continue the 
same pious means of prayer and the holy sacra- 
ments, for the purpose of securing a continuance 
of the divine blessing, and for obtaining the holy 
dispositions necessary for receiving the graces an- 
nexed to the sacrament of matrimony. With 
this view, let them ask the advice of their spiritual 
director ; and faithfully put in practice the rule 
of conduct and the pious exercises which he may 
recommend, for some time before their marriage, 
as most proper for them. Above all, let them 
during this time of preparation be more than 
ordinarily watchful over their actions, more care- 
ful of flying from sin and the occasions of it. 
Few, indeed, are the young persons who thus pre- 
pare themselves for marriage, and few, consequent- 
ly, are the marriages which are attended with the 



tHE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 233 

blessing of heaven upon them. As God is not 
invited to be present at them, he is not to be 
found at them. Now, what happiness or what 
success can be expected from an undertaking 
which has not his blessing upon it ? How dread- 
ful must be the effects, both temporal and eternal, 
of a union, which from it's sinful motives and 
unworthy dispositions, perhaps too accompanied 
with a profanation of the sacraments, is an object 
of horror in the divine sight ! Do you, at least, 
my dear children in Jesus Christ, sensible of the 
holiness of the married state, it's difficulties and 
dangers, it's obligations, and the happiness which 
attends it when accompanied with the divine 
blessing, faithfully follow the rules which I have 
here pointed out for the regulation of your con- 
duct in preparing for it, "and you will infallibly 
secure to your souls the graces that will sanctify 
your marriage, enable you to surmount the diffi- 
culties of that state, avoid it's dangers, and fulfil 
all the important obligations of it. 



EIGHTEENTH HOMILY. 



Chap, VII . ver. 11. Now when Raguel heard this, he was afraid, 
knowing what had happened to those seven husbands that 
went in unto her ; and he began to fear lest it might happen 
to him (Tobias) also in like manner : and as he was in sus- 
pense, and gave no answer to his petition, 12. The 

Angel said to him : Be not afraid to give her to this man, 
for to him who feareth God is thy daughter due to be his 
wife : therefore another could not have her. 



J. he young Tobias, in obedience to the AngeFs 
direction, and consequently to the will of heaven, 
had asked for Sara in marriage; and to shew 
the steady determination of his mind, had de- 
clared that he would not eat with Raguel until 
he had given his consent to the marriage. Raguel, 
knowing the dreadful misfortune that had befal- 
len the seven first husbands of his daughter, 
feared lest a similar untimely end might be the 
fate of his young kinsman, and therefore made 
no reply to the urgent request of Tobias. The 
Angel then interfered, and exhorted Raguel to 
banish his fears ; assuring him that his virtuous 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 235 

kinsman was the person whom divine Providence 
had destined for his son-in-law, and that the 
former husbands of his daughter had not been 
deserving of her. After this assurance of the 
Angel, Raguel hesitated not a moment, but ex- 
pressed his acquiescence to the divine appoint- 
ment in these words : 



Ver. 13. Then Raguel said: I doubt not God hath regarded my 

prayers and tears in his sight 14. And I believe he hath 

therefore made you come to me, that this maid might be 
married to one of her own kindred, according to the law of 
Moses : and now doubt not but I will give her to thee. 

Raguel, faithful to his sacred obligations as a 
parent, was not content with having given his 
daughter a virtuous education in her youth, but 
considered it a part of his duty to pray daily 
for the blessing of heaven upon his child, that 
in her riper years she might marry agreeably to 
the divine will, and conformably to the law of 
Moses. This law, as I have before observed, re- 
quired that the different tribes should not inter- 
mix with each other, but that each one of the 
children of Israel should select a partner from 
his or her own tribe. During the captivity and 
the dispersion of ten of the tribes, the observance 
of this law was become extremely difficult. Yet 
Raguel, like the good Tobias, was anxious, not- 



?36 HOMILIES ON 

withstanding the difficulty, to see it fulfilled in 
his family ; and made it the subject of his daily 
prayers and tears, that heaven would enable his 
daughter to comply with it. His conduct in this 
respect is a model, first, for all parents, teaching 
them that one of their most important duties 
is daily prayer for their children ; arid, secondly, 
for every Christian, inculcating to them how 
much the blessing of heaven depends upon their 
strictly fulfilling the divine will, and complying 
with the laws and regulations of the Church 
respecting marriage. It is the duty of every 
Christian to be well acquainted with these laws 
of the Church of God, that they may not draw 
a curse upon their marriage instead of a blessing, 
by contracting matrimony within the degrees of 
relationship forbidden by the Church, or celebra- 
ting it at the seasons in which the Church pro- 
hibits the solemnization of marriage. 

Raguel had made it his daily prayer, that his 
daughter in marrying might fulfil the law and 
will of God, and his prayer was heard. As soon 
as the Angel assured him that Tobias was the 
husband whom God had destined for his daughter, 
he no longer hesitated a moment to give his con- 
sent. It is true, that neither Raguel nor Tobias 
yet knew that the stranger who was with them was 
an A ngel ; they took him for what he appeared 
to be, a young man of their tribe. Still, there 






THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 237 

was something in the very mien and behaviour 
of Raphael, and in his manner of spiking, 
which appeared more than human, and command- 
ed the respect and instant assent of those to whom 
he addressed himself, On all occasions he delivers 
himself with an air of authority. At his first 
entrance into the house of the elder Tobias, he 
tells him with confidence that his cure from God 
is at hand. He promises, without any hesitation 
or condition, to conduct his son to Rages, and 
bring him back in safety. He bids the young 
Tobias demand Sara in marriage, assuring him 
of success. In the same authoritative tone, he 
d" pels the fears and anxieties of Raguel, and 
speaks as one well acquainted with the designs 
of Providence ; assuring him that his daughter 
was destined for the young Tobias, and for that 
reason no other person had been permitted to 
have her for a wife. All the holy personages to 
whom he addresses himself, place in a moment 
the most implicit confidence in him. The elder 
Tobias, without the least mistrust or suspicion, 
confides to this stranger the care of his darling 
son, for whom he manifests on other occasions 
.such extreme prudence and caution. The son 
listens with the utmost docility to the advice of 
this stranger, and practises it with the greatest 
.exactness. Raguel, at his bare assurance, changes 
his sentiments, his fears vanish, a new light breaks 



238 



HOMILIES ON 



in upon his mind, and his alarms are succeeded 
by confidence and hope. He cries out with joy, 
" Now I doubt not but God hath regarded my 
prayers and tears in his sight ; and I believe that 
he hath therefore made you come to me that 
this maid might be married to one of her own 
kindred, according to the law of Moses : and now 
doubt not but I will give her to thee." To what 
can we ascribe this veneration, confidence, and 
docility, which these holy men testify for the 
stranger that addresses them, but to the influence 
of the Holy Spirit secretly animating them to 
follow the guidance of him whom it had deputed 
to be their comfort and protection? Raphael 
discovers not as yet who he really is; but his 
words and whole conduct bespeak him something 
greater than what he appears to be; and the 
servants of God, with whom he converses, ever 
ready to testify their obedience to the divine 
will, hear him with docility, and obey him with- 
out hesitation. Oh ! that Christians, with a like 
spirit, would receive and follow the instructions 
of those whom, with a much greater degree of cer- 
tainty, God has pointed out to them as the guides 
whom he has constituted to lead them in the path 
to salvation, viz. the pastors of the Church ! 



Ver. 1 5. Then taking the right-hand of his daughter, he gave 
it into the right-hand of Tobias, saying : the God of Abraham, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 239 

and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, be with you, 
and may he join you together, and fulfil his blessing in 
you. 

The Catholic Church, in the celebration of ma- 
trimony, makes use of the same ceremony of 
joining hands, as an emblem of the holy union 
of man and wife in marriage. To impress more 
strongly upon the minds of her children the 
sanctity of the married state, the Church admi- 
nisters the sacrament of matrimony with great 
solemnity. She exhorts those who come to re- 
ceive this sacrament, to be careful to dispose them- 
selves for it by prayer and the other means which 
I pointed out to you in my last instruction ; more 
especially, by an humble and sincere confession 
of their sins, and the worthy participation of the 
body and blood of our Lord. The marriage 
ceremony is performed publicly, that is, before 
witnesses; and where the Catholic religion is pro- 
tected by the civil law, the banns, or public 
declaration of each intended marriage, is made 
publicly in the Church on three preceding Sun- 
days or festival days, in order that the faithful 
may join together in begging the blessing of 
heaven upon the married couple, and that if any 
of the faithful know of any circumstance which 
would render the marriage either null or criminal, 
he may lay it open to his pastor, and prevent 



240 HOMILIES ON 

the profanation of the sacrament. When nothing 
is discovered that ought to prevent the intended 
marriage, the parties present themselves, at the 
time appointed, before their pastor, who interro^ 
gates each of them on the subject of their volun- 
tary consent. After this, the parties testify their 
acceptance of each other by a union of hands, 
and the priest confirms that union in the name 
of the Blessed Trinity. He then blesses the nup- 
tial ring with a form of prayer adapted to that 
purpose, and prays God to be present at and give 
his blessing to the marriage. The holy sacrifice 
of the mass is then offered up, at which the 
nuptial benediction is given in the most solemn 
manner, immediately after the Pater Noster. At 
the end of the mass, the minister of God turning 
to the new married couple, says, " May the God 
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob, be with you, and may he fulfil his blessing 
in you ; that you may see your children's children 
unto the third and fourth generation, and after- 
wards enjoy everlasting life, through the grace 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns 
with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ope God, 
world without end, Amen." This blessing, on 
the part of the Church, is a prayer that God, 
who is the source of all benediction, will be with 
the new married couple^ since he alone can make 
them happy ; that he will confirm their union with 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 241 

the bond of holy love and affection, and that 
he will fulfil or complete the blessing by a virtuous 
offspring, who may inherit the virtues of the 
ancient patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
and the promises made to them. The solemn 
ceremony of Christian marriage is concluded by 
a serious exhortation, which the priest addresses 
to the married couple, admonishing them of the 
fidelity which they owe to each other, and ex- 
horting them to live together in the fear of God, 
in holy conjugal love and affection, and faith- 
fully to discharge their respective duties and mu- 
tual obligations. Now, these duties are of two 
kinds, both of them of the greatest importance. 
As I have elsewhere spoken of one branch of 
these duties, of married persons which regards 
their children, (see second Homily,) I shall now 
enter into a detail of the other branch of the 
duties of married persons, those which they owe 
reciprocally to each other. These are so clearly 
marked down in holy Scripture, that little else is 
necessary but to quote the very words of the in- 
spired writers. First, St. Paul, in his epistle to 
the Colossians, iii % 18, says, * Wives, be subject 
to your husbands, as it behoveth in the Lord."— * 
Eph. v. 22. " Let wives be subject to their hus- 
bands, as to the Lord : because the husband is 
the head of the wife, as Jesus Christ is the head 
of the Church, which is his body, and of whicjt* 

R 



242 



HOMILIES ON 



also he is the Saviour." — " Let wives," says $L 
Peter, 1 Ep. iii. 1, &c. " be subject to their hus- 
bands, that if any believe not the word, they 
"may be won (or gained over) without the word, 
by the conversation of their wives, when they 
consider the purity of their lives and respectful 
conversation." He then proposes the examples 
of the holy women of old, who lived in subjection 
to their husbands, and especially that of Sarah, 
who obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord ; " whose 
daughters," says the Apostle, "you also are, if 
you do that which is good." In the book of 
Tobias, Raguel and his wife exhort their daughter 
to honour her father and mother-in-law, to re- 
gulate well her household, to govern well her 
family, and to preserve herself blameless in all 
things. Tob. x. 13. In several passages, the great 
apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, admonish Christ- 
ian wives to love and be faithful to their hus- 
bands, to watch over their family at home, to 
take due care of their household, to be chaste, 
sober, modest in their dress, and humble in their 
behaviour ; proposing to them as the great end 
which they are to have in fulfilling these duties, 
the glory of God, the walking hand in hand with 
their husbands in the practice of Christian virtues; 
or, if their husbands are unhappily not in the pale 
of the true Church, the gaining of them to Christ 
by a holy life and affectionate conduct. See 
Titus ii. 1 Tim. ii. 1 Peter iii. 3. 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 243 

Secondly, addressing himself to husbands, St. 
Paul says, Col. iii. 19- " Husbands, love your wives, 
and be not bitter towards them." — Eph. v. 25. 
" And you, husbands, love your wives, as Jesus 
Christ has loved the Church, delivering himself 
up for it. So ought husbands to love their wives 
as their own bodies." — St. Peter says, " You, hus- 
bands, likewise dwell with your wives, according 
to knowledge, giving honour to the woman as 
to the weaker vessel, and as your joint-heirs of 
the grace of life, that your prayers may not be 
hindered." — In a variety of other passages of holy 
writ, husbands are exhorted to rule their families 
with mildness, to behave with all affection and 
tenderness towards their wives, and to avoid all 
harshness, and much more all savage fierceness 
and brutal violence of conduct towards them. 
God declares, by the prophet Malachy, ii. 13. 
that he will not hear the prayers of husbands 
who are guilty of ill-treatment towards their 
wives. Yet, how often do we witness such 
brutal conduct in husbands; and how great a 
proportion of the miseries of married persons 
owe their origin to a want of this mild and 
affectionate behaviour ! More especially, when to 
this defect are joined the mispending of their 
time in drinking, gaming, &c... and the squander- 
ing away of the support of their families ! This 
is. a crime so heinoua in the sight of God, that 



2U 



HOMILIES ON 



St. Paul declares, " If any man has not care of 
his own family, he has denied his faith, and is 
worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. v. 8. 

Thirdly, married persons, both husband and 
wife, are strictly charged by the apostle St. Paul, 
to render faithfully to each other the marriage 
debt. For either party to refuse this, without 
mutual consent, is a crime, a heinous violation 
of duty, and oftentimes the source of the most 
shocking excesses. 1 Cor. vii. 3. The angel Ra- 
phael instructed the holy Tobias to discharge 
this, and the like duties of marriage, in the fear 
of the Lord, and with purity of intention, that 
he might not be of the number of those who, 
following no other rule but their passions, and 
consequently having banished God from their 
heart, are delivered over to the devil for eternal 
destruction. 

Such, my beloved brethren, is an outline, taken 
from holy Scripture, of the duties which married 
persons owe to each other. There is no class of 
duties of greater importance to mankind ; and, 
unfortunately, none with which the generality 
of men are less acquainted. To this fatal ig- 
norance, and the neglect which follows from it, 
are owing those scenes of misery which so often 
disgrace the married state, pervert it from it's 
primitive institution, and render it a kind of 
hell upon earth. Blinded by passion, or under 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS 245 

the oaiidance of motives that would have shocked 
a moral heathen ; too often, at least, without one 
thought of God or their own eternal welfare ; 
many, who call themselves Christians, rush into 
matrimony, neither aware of it's sanctity nor 
acquainted with it's obligations ; perhaps too, in 
defiance of the laws of the Church. Hence those 
scenes of domestic strife and contention ; hence 
too, oftentimes those dreadful profanations of the 
sacraments, which call down the curse of heaven 
even in this life ! 

That you, my beloved brethren, may have no 
share in this unhappiness, I have unfolded to 
you these important points, the knowledge of 
which is of so much consequence to you; viz. 
the sanctity of marriage in it's primitive institu- 
tion, and much more in it's sacramental dignity ; 
the pure intention, and the holy dispositions with 
which you shoidd enter into the married state ; 
the manner of preparing for it ; the solemn ad- 
ministration of matrimony, and the sacred obliga- 
tions and duties which it imposes upon you. 
Let these important instructions sink deep into 
your mind, and regulate your conduct by them. 
Take the young Tobias for your model ; and 
with the same docility with which he received 
and fulniled the advice of his guide, treasure up 
in your souls and follow the lessons which I have 
given you. If already engaged in the married 

R3 



246 



HOMILIES ON 



state, and you are sensible that your conduct in 
first embracing it, or since you have lived in it, 
has not been conformable to the line which I 
have here marked out to you, labour to repair 
past misconduct by true repentance. If you are 
looking forward to the married state, let these 
instructions guide you, and, like Tobias, you will 
reap the fruits of them in abundance of blessings, 
both temporal and eternal. Your marriage, being 
truly Christian, will be a holy union, pleasing 
before God, fruitful in peace, comfort, and hap- 
piness during the short course of your mortal 
pilgrimage, and conducting you to an everlasting 
union in the mansions of eternal bliss. 

.Before I conclude these important instructions 
on matrimony, I will add a few words on the 
manner of keeping a Christian wedding, or the 
feast which usually follows a marriage. A feast 
on such occasions, to which the relations and 
friends of the parties are invited, is by no means 
improper, being sanctioned by the example ofJesus 
Christ himself, who attended by invitation at the 
marriage feast at Cana. But let Christians re- 
member likewise, to invite Jesus Christ to their 
wedding-feast, and not give their sanction to any 
eompany, behaviour, conversation, or diversion, 
that would profane the presence or forfeit the 
blessing of this heavenly guest. Let no drunken- 
ness, debauchery, filthy songs, or loose discourse, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 247 

rob them of the fruit of those divine blessings 
which their approaching to the sacraments on 
this solemn occasion was destined to produce in 
their souls. Let them rejoice, but rejoice in the 
Lord ; entertaining themselves in the company 
of the pious, observing sobriety in their feasting, 
modesty in their conversation, watch fulness over 
their whole conduct; concluding the day with 
fervent united prayer, to implore the blessing 
of heaven upon the consummation of their mar- 
riage. In these respects, I again propose the 
marriage of Tobias for your model. When Tobias 
and .Sara were married, the holy Scripture says, 

Ver. 16. And taking paper, they made a writing of their 

marriage 17. And afterwards they made merry, bless* 

ing God. 

Admire the conduct of these holy persons. Full 
of simplicity, and guided by a spirit of religion, 
they wait until after their marriage, without any 
mistrust or suspicion on either side, for the draw- 
ing up of the marriage articles. Having thus 
settled what prudence required as a provision 
and security for temporal concerns, they sit down 
to a feast, not with a view to the indulgence of 
appetite, or from any sensual motive, but chiefly 
to bless God, to express their joy and thanks- 
giving for his having, in so truly wonderful a 

R4 



24g HOMILIES, kC. 

manner, directed his servants by the finger of 
his Providence, and brought about this holy 
marriage union ; a union entered upon with the 
purest intention, in conformity to his divine will 
and holy law, and consequently sealed and con- 
firmed with a promise of his blessings for time 
and eternity. 



NINETEENTH HOMILY. 



Chap. VII. ver. 18. And Raguel called to him Anna his wife, 

and bid her prepare another chamber 19. And she 

brought Sara her daughter in thither, and she wept. 

20. And she said to her : Be of good cheer, my daughter, 
the Lord of heaven give thee joy for the trouble thou hast 
undergone. 

J. he two preceding instructions on the im- 
portant subject of marriage have enabled me to 
lay before your view, my beloved brethren, the 
dispositions and intentions with which a Christian 
should enter into marriage, the graces and bless- 
ings annexed to the worthy receiving of matri- 
mony, and the duties and obligations attached 
to that holy state. I then proposed to you to 
take the conduct of the holy Tobias for your 
model on these important points. What follows 
in the Scripture account of the marriage of this 
holy young man, is no less worthy of your at- 
tention, and furnishes no less admirable lessons 
of instruction. 

According to the custom of the Hebrew nation, 



250 HOMILIES ON 

a custom much to be commended for it's strict 
conformity to decency and purity, Sara was con- 
ducted to the nuptial bed by her parents, some 
time before her husband. On entering the cham- 
ber prepared for her, she wept : her tears, without 
doubt, flowing from the remembrance of her 
past afflictions, and the unhappy fate that had 
befallen her former husbands. Her mother, see- 
ing her distress, consoled her with the hope that 
divine Providence would on this occasion recom- 
pense her past sorrow and trouble with abundance 
of joy. 

Chap. VIII. vet. 1. And after they had supped, they brought in 

the young man to her 2. And Tobias, remembering 

the Angel's word, took out of his bag part of the liver, and 
laid it upon burning coals 3. Then the angel Ra- 
phael took the devil, and bound him in the desert of 
Upper Egypt. 

When supper was over, Tobias was conducted 
to the chamber of the bride by her parents, and 
left alone with her. His first care was to fulfil 
immediately the advice of the angel Raphael in 
every particular. The Angel had directed him 
as soon as he should enter the nuptial chamber 
to lay the heart and liver of the fish upon burn- 
ing coals, assuring him that God would, by these 
simple means, prevent the malice of the devil. 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS, 251 

and preserve his servant. Tobias did as the 
Angel had advised him; and God, who is ever 
faithful to his promise, by his Angel chased away 
the evil spirit that had been the instrument of 
his vengeance against the former wicked husbands 
of Sara, and permitted not the devil to exercise 
the power before allowed him, except at a great 
distance from the spot where Tobias and Sara 
were. Happy obedience, which proved to this 
holy man the source of so many and such dis- 
tinguished blessings from heaven ! — Tobias knew 
not that his guide was actually an Angel, deputed 
to guide him ; but feeling persuaded that Provi- 
dence had provided him with this faithful con- 
ductor, he was resolved to obey all his injunc- 
tions, being assured that his obedience would 
secure the blessing of heaven. Such are the sen- 
timents which animate the true servants of God. 
Their spirit is a spirit of docility and obedience ; 
but how rarely are this spirit and these senti- 
ments to be met with among Christians ! How 
few, like Tobias, are scrupulously exact and dili- 
gent in practising the advice given them for their 
spiritual improvement by the pastor whom God 
has appointed to guide their souls ! God has given 
the assurance of his sacred word, that the pastors 
of his Church are those whom he himself has 
commissioned to guide us, that he speaks by 
their mouth, and that he considers the obedience 



252 



HOMILIES ON 



or disobedience shewn to them, as shewn to him- 
self. Yet, what is the conduct of the generality 
of Christians ? I speak not here of the little at- 
tention which is paid by the flock to the public 
instructions of their pastor in sermons or at 
catechism ; but, if we may judge from the lives 
of the greater part of those who at stated times 
frequent the sacraments, of the little attention 
which Christians pay to the advice which they 
receive from their pastor in the sacred tribunal 
of penance, and the little care which they take 
to put in practice the lessons there given for the 
regulation and improvement of their lives. In 
the sacred tribunal of confession, God lias ap- 
pointed for every one an Angel, that is, a 
minister, by whose mouth he delivers those 
salutary truths which are destined, if faithfully 
followed, to root out their past spiritual disorders, 
to infuse into their minds a light that will guide 
their future steps in the way of virtue, and pre- 
serve them from the snares laid for them by the 
malice of the devil. "But the greater part of 
Christians, contenting themselves with the bare 
confession of their sins, and the performance of 
their sacramental penance, think no more of the 
advice given them in the confessional for the 
regulation and amendment of their lives, but 
return with thoughtless unconcern to their usual 
course of dissipation and intercourse with the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 253 

world. Hence they cany with them the same 
transgressions again and again to confession, and 
too often from confession to the grave ; their dis- 
orders increase and strengthen, and their disobe- 
dience to the advice of the guide appointed by 
heaven to conduct them, shuts the door to the 
divine blessing, and robs them of the fruit which 
they would otherwise reap to their souls from 
the sacred institutions of God's mercy, the sacra- 
ments of his Church. I exhort you, therefore, 
my beloved brethren, to imitate the conduct of 
the good Tobias, in making it an invariable rule 
of your behaviour, when you receive the advice 
of your spiritual guide, to lay it up carefully in 
your minds, and with faithful docility practise 
it in all it's branches. 

The more important part of the Angel's direc- 
tions to Tobias still remained to be fulfilled ; and 
notwithstanding the suggestions of flesh and 
blood, the holy young man diligently complied 
with it. 



Ver. 4. Then Tobias exhorted the virgin, and said to her : Sara, 
arise, and let us pray to God to-day, and to-morrow, and 
the next day : because for these three nights we are joined 
to God ; and when the third night is over we will be in 
our own wedlock. ...... 5. For we are the children of Saints, 



254. 



HOMILIES ON 



and we must not be joined together like heathens who kno>r 
not God. 






How solid is the piety of this young man I. 
how holy are his sentiments ! All his thoughts 
are employed on the securing of the divine bless- 
ing upon his marriage. At his entrance, there- 
fore, into the nuptial chamber, he employs the 
means recommended by the Angel for chasing 
away the devil ; he banishes every unbecoming 
thought from his own mind, and calls upon his 
spouse to unite with him in fervent prayer for 
the divine favour and protection. It is not time, 
says he, as yet, to consummate our marriage ; 
we have a more important task to accomplish — 
the chaste and holy union of our hearts with 
God. To promote this holy object, let us put 
up our united ardent supplications to the throne 
of grace during the three first nights ; for we 
are children of those holy patriarchs, who, by the 
like pious means, sanctified themselves in the 
married state. We have the happiness to know 
and to serve the same God as they did : let us 
then, with a fidelity like their's, give ourselves 
to him with all our hearts ; let us rise superior 
to the suggestions of sense and passion ; and let 
us manifest to the world the difference between 
the true children of Abraham, and the heathens 
who know not God. Such were the admirable 






THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 255 

sentiments of this young Israelite ; sentiments 
which will cover with eternal shame and con- 
fusion those nominal Christians, whose marriage 
differs in nothing from that of pagans, except 
in the mere outward ceremonies of religion which 
accompany it, but which engage their attention 
only for a moment, and are presently forgotten ; 
and their passions are suffered to lead them into 
those criminal excesses which disgrace the mar- 
riages of heathens, and are the objects of God's 
abhorrence. 

Sara obeyed the call of her husband, and united 
with him in prayer : 

Fer. 6. They both arose, (says the sacred text,) and prayed 
earnesly both together, that health might be given them. 

The holy Scripture has recorded their prayer 
as a model for the direction of married persons 
in the views which they ought to bring with them 
to their holy union, and the sentiments which 
should animate their hearts on that solemn oc- 
casion. 

Fer. 7. And Tobias said : Lord God of our fathers, may the 
heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains, and 
the rivers, and all thy creatures that are in them, bless 

thee: 8. Thou madest Adam of the slime of the earth, 

and gavest him Eve for a helper 9. And now, O Lord, 

thou knowest, that not for fleshly lust do I take my sister 



256 



HOMILIES ON 



(relation) to wife, but only for the love of posterity, in which 

thy name may be blessed for ever and ever 10. Sara 

also said : Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, 
and let us grow old both together in health. 



Our blessed Redeemer assures us, that from the 
abundance of the 1 heart the mouth speaketh. This 
excellent prayer of Tobias unfolds to us the heart 
of this holy young man. Impressed with a con- 
stant sense of the divine presence ; full of the most 
sublime ideas of the divine power, goodness, and 
mercy ; sensible that all the works of the Al- 
mighty are designed to promote his own glory 
and the happiness of his creatures ; Tobias invites 
the whole creation to unite with him in praising 
God for his past mercies : then, having always 
the glory of God in view as the end of all his 
actions, he declares the purity of intention with 
which he had entered the married state ; not im- 
pelled by any criminal passion, but that he might 
be the father of a virtuous family, faithful ser- 
vants of the true God ; and he looks with con- 
fidence for the blessing of God, in reward for 
his piety and purity of heart. His wife unites 
hi fervent supplication for the blessing of health 3 
not merely the health of the body, but the much 
more important health of the soul, that they may 
persevere in innocence and virtue to a good old 
age, blessed with a virtuous race of children-, faith* 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 257 

fully trained in the service of their Creator. Their 
prayer was heard, as the sequel of their history 
informs us. How many truly pious and happy 
marriages should we see among Christians, if they 
entered the married state under the guidance of 
the same spirit which animated this holy couple, 
and followed it's directions in their lives ; if hus- 
band and wife considered themselves as instru- 
ments of divine Providence in propagating a 
succession of faithful servants of God, and follow- 
ers of Jesus Christ ; and with this view would 
labour earnestly to fulfil their important obliga- 
tions as parents, by giving their children a truly 
virtuous education I 



Ver. II, And it came to pass about the cock-crowing, Raguel 
ordered his servants to be called for, and they went with him 

together to dig a grave 12. For he said: Lest perhaps it 

may have happened to him in like manner as it did to the 

other seven huslmnds that went in* unto her .. 13. And 

when they had prepared the pit, Raguel went back to his 

wife, and said to her: 14. Send one of thy maids, and 

let her see if he be dead, that I may bury him before it be 
day. 

How striking a proof is this of the weakness 
of human nature ! Raguel but a short time be- 
fore had expressed his confidence that God had 

S 



258 



HOMILIES OX 



heard his prayers, and seemed overjoyed at the 
prospect of his having so virtuous a son-in-law. 
Now, his confidence is all vanished, and he is 
entirely overcome by his fears. Full of the me- 
lancholy thoughts suggested by reflecting upon 
the fate of the former husbands of his daughter, 
he passes the night without rest and without 
sleep. Apprehensive that Tobias has met with 
the same dreadful misfortune as had befallen 
Sara's former husbands, he takes the necessary 
precautions, rises from his bed before the night 
is over, and calls his servants to assist him in 
preparing a grave. So fickle, so inconstant is the 
mind of man, so weak are even the very best 
of us when left to the motions of our own heart.* 
Our good resolutions are soon forgotten ; the slight- 
est breath of temptation shakes them. One mo- 
ment we are all courage and confidence ; the next, 
mistrust and terror. Like the chief of the 
Apostles, we at one time, rely so much upon 
the strength of our present dispositions that we 
imagine nothing can alter them ; we feel con- 
fidant that we can stand any assault, even of 
death itself, rather than part with our virtue : and 
presently, a mere passing thought, a slight word 
from a fellow-creature, or a threat of some tem- 
poral calamity, overturns all our fancied strength, 
and manifests us, as we really are, made up of 
frailty, corruption, and miseiy. Our only security 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 259 

and protection against this fatal weakness of our 
nature, is that true and solid humility which 
teaches us to know ourselves as we are, to confess 
our own nothingness and inability to do good 
of ourselves, and at the same time to place all 
our confidence in God, and to seek for help and 
strength from Him who accepts the prayer of the 
humble, and never despises their petition. 

Raguel, in the moment of his weakness and 
diffidence, gives up all his former sources of hope 
and consolation, considers the death of Tobias 
as certain, prepares his grave, and desires his wife 
to send one of her maid-servants to the nuptial 
chamber to see if he be not already dead. 



Vet. 1 5. So she 9ent one of her maid-servants, who went into 
the chamber, and found them safe and sound, sleeping both 

together l6. And returning, she brought the good news, 

and Raguel and Anna his wife blessed the Lord, 17. And 

said : We bless thee, O Lord God of Israel, because it hath 

not happened as we suspected 18. For thou hast shewn 

thy mercy to us, and hast shut out from us the enemy that 

persecuted us 19. And thou hast taken pity upon two 

only children. Make them, O Lord, bless thee more fully ; 
and to offer up to thee a sacrifice of thy praise, and of their 
health, that all nations may know that thou alone art God in 
all the earth. 

The royal Prophet assures us that the Angels 

-S2 



260 



HOMILIES ON 



of the Lord encamp round about those who fear 
him. Tobias and Sara having engaged in mar- 
riage in the fear of the Lord, and recommended 
themselves to his holy protection by fervent 
prayer, retired to rest with a firm confidence in 
that divine Providence which watches over the 
slumbers of it's servants. The maid whom Anna 
had sent to their chamber, found them in a quiet 
and profound repose. The joyful news of their 
safety awakens in Raguel all his former senti- 
ments of the divine goodness; ashamed of his 
momentary mistrust in Providence, he loses not 
an instant to repair his fault, but breaks forth in 
praise and thanksgiving to his Creator. His wife 
unites with him in this holy duty of gratitude 
and prayer. Not content with their own effusions 
of thanksgiving* springing from a heart truly 
grateful for the divine blessing, they beg of God 
to fill the breasts of their children with a grate- 
ful sense of his mercies, and to excite in them a 
gratitude proportioned to the wonderful favours 
which he had shewn them. They pray that the 
Almighty may be glorified in the virtuous lives 
of their children, and that by their holy example 
the nations of the earth may be brought to know 
and to adore the true God. This prayer of 
Raguel and Anna inculcates two very important 
lessons of instruction, the one to Christians in 
general, the other to parents in particular. Christ- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 261 

ians may learn to receive the blessings of heaven 
with gratitude, and, as no day passes in which 
each of us does not experience the bounty of 
God, not a day should be suffered to pass without 
bringing it's morning and evening tribute of 
thanksgiving to the Deity. More especially in 
the moments in which we experience any par- 
ticular favour from God, we should immediately 
raise our hearts and thoughts to him, and offer 
him a short but fervent return of thanks. Se- 
condly, the example of Raguel and Anna teaches 
Christian parents that it is one of their most im- 
portant obligations to present their fervent sup- 
plications to God in behalf of their children, and 
make it their great concern not to provide earthly 
riches for them, but to render them rich in virtue 
and goodness, by holy instruction, good example, 
and fervent prayer for them. — Raguel having thus 
given the first emotions of his heart, on the new* 
of Tobias's safety, to the holy office of prayer 
and thanksgiving, expressed outwardly the joy 
which he felt, in a feast to which he invited his 
friends. 



Ver. 20. And immmediately, (says the sacred text,) Raguel com- 
manded his servants to fill up the pit they had made, before 

it was day 21. And he spoke to his wife to make ready 

a feast, and prepare all kinds of provisions that are necessary 

S3 



252 HOMILIES, &C. 

for such as go a journey 22. He caused also two fat kine, 

and four wethers to be killed, and a banquet to be prepared 

for all his neighbours and all his friends 23. And Raguel 

adjured Tobias to abide with him two weeks. ...... 24. And 

of all things which Raguel possessed, he gave one half to 
Tobias, and made a writing, that the half that remained should 
after their decease, come also to Tobias. 

My Christian brethren, when the feasts of the 
Church of God call upon you to express your 
joy at the triumphs of your Redeemer and his 
Saints, and your gratitude for the blessings of 
heaven, let the outward mirth which you testify 
in the entertainment of your friends, be, as it 
ought to be, a sincere token of the inward re- 
joicing and thanksgiving of your hearts. " Re- 
joice," as the Apostle says, " in the Lord ; making 
it your principal care on these holy festivals, by 
humble confession, devout communion, and fer- 
Vent prayer, to sanctify your souls, and merit a 
Continuance of the divine mercy. 



TWENTIETH HOMILY. 



Chap. IX. ver. 1. Then Tobias called the Angel to him, whom 
he took to be a man, and said to him : Brother Azarias, I pray 

thee hearken to my words 2. If I should give my self 

to be thy servant, I should not make a worthy return for thy 

care 3. However, I beseech thee to take with thee beasts 

and servants, and to go to Gabelus to Rages, the city of the 
Medes : and to return him his note of hand, and receive of him 

the money, and desire him to come to my wedding. 

4. For, thou knowest that my father numbereth the days : and 

if I stay one day more, his soul will be afflicted. 5. And 

indeed thou seest how Raguel hath adjured me, whose ad» 
juring I cannot despise, 

Comity. 

JL he young Tobias had left home in obedience 
to the advice of his aged father, in order to re- 
cover a sum of money which his father had lent 
to his kinsman Gabelus. This, therefore, was the 
principal object of his journey, and it appears to 
have been the principal subject of his thoughts 
and concern, to acquit himself with fidelity of the 
trust reposed in him. Hitherto, indeed, he had 
been occupied with his marriage, because he felt 
it his duty to obey in this respect the directions 

S4 









zu 



HOMILIES ON 



of his guide. Though not as yet sensible that 
his conductor belonged to a superior order of 
beings, he was satisfied that his guide was sent 
him by an all-ruling Proyidence, and consequently 
that to obey him was to obey the voice of heaven. 
But having fulfilled this obligation of obedience 
in what related to his marriage, the thoughts of 
his aged parents, and the trust they had given 
him, again occupy all his care and attention. 
Fearful lest he himself should meet with some 
unexpected difficulty too strong to be surmounted, 
or lest he should not succeed to his father's wishes, 
he applies for assistance to his faithful guide 
Azarias, from whom he had already received so 
much comfort, such excellent advice and direc- 
tion. Were Christians as diligent under their 
spiritual difficulties, in having recourse for counsel 
to the guide and director of their souls, like 
Tobias's, their humility and obedience would se- 
cure the blessing of heaven, in providing them 
with the helps necessary for their advancement 
in the path of virtue, and for removing the 
obstacles thrown in their way by the malice of 
the devil. 

Next to the obedience which the young Tobias 
shews to his guide, we may admire his gratitude, 
a quality which forms a distinguishing feature 
in his character. In addressing Azarias, he seems 
to want words to express how full his heart was 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS, 265 

of grateful feelings for the kind attention of his 
guide, and says, that if he were even to become 
the servant of Azarias, it would be a small return 
for the favours which he had received. Gratitude 
is so amiable a quality of the heart, that wherever 
it is found, it renders k's possessor an object of 
esteem and veneration to all who know him ; 
while, on the other hand, ingratitude fixes an 
indelible mark of odium and disgrace on the 
wretch whose conduct manifests him capable of 
so much infamy. I speak now of the transactions 
of mankind with one another. But, it" we raise 
our thoughts still higher, how truly amiable and 
pleasing is gratitude in the sight of the Supreme 
Being, and how amply does he reward it ! The 
lives of the Saints of God point out to us, on 
the one hand, some of our fellow- creatures, sensible 
of the goodness of their Creator, offering him 
in return the acceptable tribute of a grateful 
heart, and proving their gratitude by a far 
correspondence with the favours received ; on 
other hand, they are the history of the continued 
and increasing bounties of a God, pleased with 
the gratitude of his creatures, and heaping upon 
them in return new and more abundant mercies. 
But what a reproach is this grateful conduct of 
the Saints to the greater part of Christians ! Like 
the Saints, we profess indeed with our lips that 
we are indebted to the bounty of our heavenly 



266 



HOMILIES OJJ 












Father for the daily blessings we receive; but 
how little do our lives correspond with this pro- 
fession ? How seldom are our hearts raised up in 
gratitude to the Author of all our good ! How 
small a portion of our time is given to the service 
of Him, to whose goodness we are indebted for 
each moment of our existence ! But a few years 
ago, my beloved brethren, you were void of sense, 
of life, or even existence, beneath the very meanest 
object that serves to make up the admirable va- 
riety of the creation. That same Almighty Be- 
ing who framed the universe, who is himself 
unchangeably and eternally happy, whose throne 
is surrounded by millions that partake of his 
glory, and incessantly honour, praise, and adore 
the Author of their bliss, has selected you, to bless 
you with a being exalted far above that of the 
visible objects that surround you, and stamped 
with his own image, the pledge of it's happy 
destiny to an eternal union with it's Creator, and 
a share in his immense and never-ending happi- 
ness. Did this Almighty Being stand in need of 
you ? Would his glory have been diminished, or 
his happiness have been less, had he not called 
you into existence? No. — It was love for you, 
which directed the voice that called you into 
being, which guided the omnipotent arm that 
framed you, and breathed into your souls that 
breath of life which bespeaks them destined for 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 267 

a union with their Creator in eternal bliss, Oh I 
infinite goodness of God, how little do men think 
of thee !— But, my beloved brethren, this blessing 
of your creation is not confined to the instant 
in which you were first called into existence. 
It extends to every moment of your lives; it 
is renewed each instant, and continued in the 
preservation of your being by the same almighty 
power that created it ; a preservation which is 
justly called a fresh, a continual creation. — Yet, 
at this moment when I am pressing these truths 
upon your minds for your consideration, con- 
science perhaps flies in your face and reproaches 
you with a strange forgetfulness of your Creator, 
a surprising ingratitude for his benefits. Few <jf 
us but may cry out with St. Augustin after 
his conversion, " Too late have I known thee, 
O ancient truth ! Too late have I loved thee, O 
ancient beauty !" Oh ! that like this great Saint, 
the model of true penitents, you may repair your 
past neglect and ingratitude by spending the re- 
mainder of your lives with fidelity in the service 
cf your Creator ! 

; Were the motives which call for your gratitude 
to your bountiful God, confined to your creation, 
the being which he has given you, and the end 
for which it was bestowed upon you, a life faith- 
fully dedicated to that God would be but a small 
return for his mercies. How infinitely then does 



268 HOMILIES Otf 

the obligation of your gratitude increase upon 
you, when you turn your thoughts to the mystery 
of your redemption ! He who created you, beheld 
you, from the throne of his glory, victims of his 
just indignation, doomed to an eternal exclusion 
from his kingdom, condemned to an eternity of 
misery, forlorn and without hope. Impelled by 
love for you, he clothes himself with the weakness 
of your flesh ; submits himself to poverty, igno- 
miny, and contempt ; suffers himself to be treated 
as the very outcast of mankind; bears in his 
sacred body the torments due to your sins ; ex- 
piates your crimes by the effusion of his blood ; 
and dies in an agony of sufferings, to reconcile 
you to your offended Creator. This his love for 
you is the astonishment of the Spirits that sur- 
round his throne of glory, and calls forth their 
eternal praise and thanksgiving. But man, for 
whom was wrought this mystery of love, un* 
gratefully forgets it. The sufferings of Ins Re- 
deemer seldom form the subject of his thoughts ; 
the greater part are of the number of those, of 
whose ingratitude this Redeemer complains by 
the prophet : Psalm cxli. " I looked at my right- 
hand and beheld, and there was no one that would 
acknowledge me." 

Not content with giving himself once a victim 
of propitiation for you by his death upon the 
cross, he continues daily to present you with the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 269 

fruits of his redemption. In heaven he conti- 
nually makes intercession for you, presenting his 
sacred wounds to his eternal Father in your he- 
half. On earth he has established his Church 
as a light to guide you in the path that leads 
to the possession of his glory, and has enriched 
her with those treasures of grace that were pur- 
chased at the price of his blood, and are appointed 
by him to be the strength, the comfort, and sup- 
port of your souls during their mortal pilgrimage. 
Look around you, my beloved brethren, and view 
the thousands of your unhappy fellow-creatures, 
who, brought up in infidelity, ignorance, and error, 
are strangers to the light of the true faith which 
God has made to shine upon you, and to the 
blessings which you enjoy in the communion of 
the Catholic Church. Could I persuade you, 
after thus calling your attention to these general 
blessings, to review your past lives, and bring 
before your eyes the unnumbered blessings, both 
for time and eternity, for soul and body, which 
the boundless goodness of your God has daily 
poured out upon each of you individually ; the 
accidents from which he has preserved you ; the 
graces with which he has helped you ; and all this, 
perhaps, at the very time when you have been 
bis enemies by sin, and undeserving of his good- 
ness ; what an immense debt of gratitude would 
immediately present itself before you, as due to 



270 



HOMILIES ON 



your Creator ! How severe would be the re- 
proaches of your conscience for your past thought- 
lessness and neglect to discharge this debt ! But, 
alas ! how much more enormous will this debt 
appear, and how infinitely more terrible will be 
the reproaches of conscience in the awful moment 
of death, when the goodness of God shall display 
itself to you in it's full splendour, and your own 
ungrateful forgetfulness of his mercies shall pre- 
sent itself in it's blackest deformity ! From this 
day, then, let the benefits which you have re- 
ceived from God be the subject of your daily 
meditation, and meet with a daily tribute of 
heartfelt thanksgiving to the bounty of your 
Creator. The royal prophet declares, that he will 
sing the praises of his God each day of his ex- 
istence ; and invites the whole universe to unite 
it's voice in proclaiming the bounty of his Creator. 
His Psalms, full of every sentiment that piety 
can suggest, are principally hymns of praise and 
thanksgiving, abounding with the grateful ex- 
pressions of a heart whose constant delight and 
occupation was to contemplate the riches of God's 
mercy, and raise itself in spirit to the blessed 
choirs above, who sing without ceasing the praises 
of the Almighty. Like this holy prophet and 
faithful servant of God, do you, my beloved 
brethren, make it your frequent, I would say, 
your daily occupation, to recite some part of the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 271 

Psalms, or at least to pour forth the pious ef- 
fusions of your own hearts in gratitude to Him 
who daily bestows so many of his best blessings 
upon you. Your fidelity in this practice will be 
a happy mark of your being destined one day to 
join the happy company of those who in the 
heavenly Jerusalem know no other employment 
or happiness than to sing eternal hymns of praise, 
adoration, and thanksgiving, to the Deity. 

But to return to the history of Tobias. The 
holy Scripture informs us, that Tobias, after thank- 
ing his guide, w T hom he did not yet know to be an 
Angel, for past favours, requested a fresh proof 
of his kindness and attention, by soliciting him 
to undertake a journey to Rages, and recover 
the sum of money which his father had lent 
to Gabelus. The angel Raphael, without any 
hesitation, complied with the request, and im- 
mediately set out for Rages, as the sacred text 
thus relates : 



Vet. 6. Then Raphael took four of Raguel's servants, and two 
camels, and went to Rages, the city of the Medes, and find- 
ing Gabelus, gave him his note of hand, and received of him 

all the money 7- And he told him concerning Tobias, 

the son of Tobias, all that had been done, and made him 
come with him to the wedding. 

The holy Scripture now introduces to our 



272 



HOMILIES ON 



notice, another servant of God, Gabelus. From 
what had before been said of him by the elder 
Tobias, we were enabled to learn that Gabelus 
was a man of upright character. On the present 
occasion, the sacred writer says but little of him, 
but that little is sufficient to discover to us the 
excellency of his heart and conduct. Honest and 
just by principle, Gabelus embraces with joy the 
opportunity now offered him of repaying the 
money which his friend and kinsman had lent him, 
and of testifying, at the same time, his esteem 
for Tobias, and his regard for his kinsman, No 
less just in giving to God that which belonged 
to him, Gabelus manifests a great piety and sense 
of the divine goodness, and ascribes every bless- 
ing to the divine bounty. Thus does this holy 
man furnish us with an example of that two- 
fold justice which combines to form the character 
of the true Christian, justice towards God, and 
justice towards our neighbours. To be just 
towards God, we must faithfully consecrate to 
him the powers and faculties of the being which 
he has bestowed upon us, paying to him with 
fidelity our homage of morning and evening de- 
votion, making him the end of all our actions, 
and diligently walking in the path of his holy 
commandments. To be just to our neighbour, 
we must carefully regulate our conduct by that 
golden rule of doing to others as we would have 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 273 

them do to us. By this rule all our thoughts, 
words, and actions, as far as they regard our 
fellow-creatures, will one day be examined at the 
tribunal of our sovereign Judge, and every de- 
viation from it will be enregistered against us 
as an injustice, hateful in the sight of God, who, 
as the Psalmist assures us, Psalm xliv. " loveth 
justice, and hateth injustice." The maxims and 
practice of worldlings, under cover of which too 
many Christians frame to themselves a false con- 
science, and by which they pretend to justify 
their frauds, over-reachings, and deceits, will then 
be of no avail. All will be examined by the 
plain simple rule of doing as we would be done 
to. Gabelus was fully sensible of his duty in 
this respect, and having borrowed a sum of 
money of his friend, was careful not to squander 
it in idleness, pride, or excess. This he knew 
would have been an injustice that would have 
for ever excluded him from a share in the in- 
heritance of the just. He employed the money 
which Tobias had lent him, in some honest, in- 
dustrious way of business, and carefully laid by 
what Providence enabled him to save by his la- 
bour, till an opportunity should offer of returning 
the whole sum to his friend. His upright and 
honest intentions drew down a blessing from 
heaven upon his temporal concerns. But how 
.severely does his conduct reproach those unjust 

T 



274f HOMILIES ON 

Christians, who either unlawfully detain the 
property of others, or take no pains to restore 
it ; who, by their idleness or evil habits, involve 
themselves and their families in debt ; or, when 
already involved, use no endeavour to extricate 
themselves. In vain will such persons cry out 
for mercy at the tribunal of God; the cry of 
their injustices will ascend before God, and their 
lot will be among those of whom St. Paul speaks 
when he says, that no unjust person shall enter 
into the kingdom of God. Frequently then, my 
beloved brethren, examine your conduct towards 
your neighbour by the gospel precept, correct 
every past deviation from it, and avoid for the 
future every, even the least wilful transgression 
of it. 

Gabelus, having taken up his note of hand, 
accepted of the young Tobias's invitation, and 
accompanied the Angel to the wedding. 



Ver. 8. And when he was come into Ragnel's house, he found 
Tobias sitting at the table : and he leaped up and they kissed 

each other : and Gabelus wept and blessed God, J). And 

said : The God of Israel bless thee, because thou art the son 
of a very good and just man, and that feareth God, and doth 

alms-deeds: 10. And may a blessing come upon thy 

wife, and upon your parents: 11. And may you see 

your children, and your children's children, unto the third 
and fourth generation : and may ) r our seed be blessed by the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 275 

God of Israel, who reigneth for ever and ever 12. And 

when all had said Amen, they went to the feast, but the 
niarriage-feast they celebrated also with the fear of the Lord. 

When Gabelus entered the house of RagueL 
Tobias rose up from table, as a mark of respect 
for the virtues of his character, and embraced 
him with affection. Gabelus wept for joy at the 
sight of his kinsman's son, and the thought of 
the wonderful goodness of God towards him. 
As soon as his feelings would permit, he ex- 
pressed the pious emotions in a hearty thanks- 
giving to God for past mercies, and a fervent 
supplication for a continuance of the divine bles- 
sing to Tobias and his family, even to their 
latest posterity. How admirable are the sim- 
plicity and piety of this holy company ! God is 
ever present to their thoughts ; to bless his holy 
name seems to be their greatest delight, their 
constant and favourite occupation. To him they 
look for every blessing ; him they consider as the 
author of all the happiness which they enjoy; 
to him they present their sincere thanksgiving. 
Their good wishes to each other, are so many 
prayers addressed to the bountiful Giver of all 
good gifts. Gabelus expresses these holy sen- 
timents, and the rest of this pious family confirm 
them by devoutly answering Amen ; a model 
for Christians in the great and holy duty of 

T2 



276 HOMILIES, &C. 

family prayer. After their prayers, these holy 
Israelites sit down to the marriage-feast with the 
fear of the Lord. No excess, no drunkenness, no 
evil conversation, disgraces their mirth ; the pre- 
sence of God fills their thoughts, to whom their 
hearts are directed ; all their joy is sanctified by 
a pure intention, moderation, and holy discourse. 
Their feast is an emblem of that eternal feast 
which the elect enjoy in the kingdom of their 
God, 



TWENTY-FIRST HOMILY 



€kq,p. X. ver. 1. But as Tobias made longer stay upon occasion 
of the marriage, Tobias, his father, was solicitous, saying: 
Why, thinkest thou, doth my son tarry, or why is he de- 
tained there? .2. Is Gabelus dead, thinkest thou, and 

no man will pay him the money? 3. And he began 

to be exceeding sad, both he and Anna his wife with him : 
and they began both to weep together, because" their son did 
not return to them on the day appointed. 

Vomits* 

JL h e young Tobias, yielding to the pressing 
solicitations of his father-in-law, consented to 
spend a fortnight after his marriage at Raguel's 
house. His parents, not seeing him return at 
the time appointed, began to be anxious for his 
safety, and knew not how to account for his 
stay. His father, notwithstanding his great virtue 
and confidence in the divine protection, felt his 
mind quite overpowered with grief, and could 
hardly support his affliction. His son, whom 
he looked upon as his only comfort under the 
trials that had befallen him, seemed now lost to 
him, and he became exceedingly sad. The 

T 3 



278 HOMILIES ON 

anxiety, the grief and tears of this holy servant 
of God, so full of faith and piety, discover to 
us that the most holy persons are not exempt 
from the weaknesses of human nature. Almighty 
God permits this, that his servants, sensible of 
their weakness, may never presume upon their 
own strength and courage, but may remember 
that all their sufficiency and force come from 
God. Did we behold the Saints on all oc- 
casions firm, intrepid, without any sentiments 
of fear, without anxiety or weakness, we should 
be inclined to look upon them as a superior 
order of beings, whose example it would be 
in vain for us to attempt to imitate. Under 
the trials which Providence appoints for our 
mortal pilgrimage, we should want the encourage- 
ment and help to virtue which we derive from 
the example of the faithful servants of God who 
have trod the path of affliction before us. But 
when we see even the chosen friends of God 
sometimes sinking under the weakness of nature, 
and experiencing the same feelings as ourselves, 
we feel encouraged not to yield to despondency, 
but to bear up with hope, relying on the same 
divine arm which strengthened them, and en- 
abled them to triumph in the end. Virtue does 
not extinguish, but she regulates and tempers 
the feelings of nature, teaching us to make, even 
of our imperfections, so many steps to heaven, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 279 

fey humility, and the confession of our own weak- 
ness. Thus the grief and anxiety of Tobias were 
merely passing emotions of his mind. Faith, 
which was deeply rooted in his heart, soon lifted 
him above his momentary dejection, and restored 
the calmness and tranquillity of his mind. After 
a momentary expression of the feelings which 
attempted to draw him aside from the path of 
hope, he turns his thoughts to the goodness of 
his God, and animates himself with confidence 
in the divine protection. Fully persuaded that 
his son had left home under the direction of 
a guide sent by God himself, he feels assured of 
his happy and safe return. Gaining strength 
from his momentary weakness, he suppresses his 
own grief, and attempts to dry up the tears of 
his wife. Happy would it have been for her, 
if she had been blessed with the like strong faith, 
and the same holy dispositions, as her husband ! 



Ver. 4. But she (his mother) wept, and was quite disconsolate, 
and said : Woe, woe is me, my son, why did we send thee 
to go to a strange country, the light of our eyes, the staff 
of our old age, the comfort of our life, the hope of our pos- 
terity 5. We, having all things together in thee alone, 

ought not to have let thee go from us 6. And Tobias 

said to her : Hold thy peace, and be not troubled, our son 
is safe; that man, with whom we sent him, is very tru sty. 

T4 



£80 HOMILIES ON 

7. But she could by no means be comforted, but 

xlaily running out, looked round about, and went into 
all the ways, by which there seemed any hope he might 
return, that she might, if possible, see him coming afar off. 

In all that the holy Scripture here relates of 
the grief of Anna, and the manner of her ex- 
pressing it, we discover an exact picture of human 
nature in the greatest distress. In what feeling 
language does she unbosom her anguished heart ! 
Hoy/ eloquent does affliction render her! Her 
every word bespeaks the tenderness of a fond 
mother, overwhelmed with grief at the thought 
of her having lost her only son! Her past ex- 
perience of the goodness of God, and the holy 
example of her husband, ought to have consoled 
her, and raised her from the dejection into which 
she had sunk. But, alas ! void of that solid faith 
and those principles of religion, which formed 
the character of Tobias, she is the victim of 
despondency, and appears without consolation, 
and even without hope. In her, nature alone 
acts as guide ; and what is human nature in the 
horn of trial, without the aid of religion? A 
weak, deceitful, and pernicious guide, which does 
not even permit us to see the path that would 
lead us to happiness, which strews with fresh 
thorns the rugged way of affliction, robs us of 
comfort, and deprives us of that present merit 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 281 

and future reward which are the happy fruits 
that religion teaches us to expect from the crosses * 
and afflictions ordained for our journey through 
this vale of tears. In vain does Tobias en- 
deavour to console his wife, and make her a 
partaker of his own sources of comfort and 
hope. In vain does he impart to her the in- 
ward confidence which animates his breast, that 
his son is under the guidance of Providence. 
In vain does he assure her, as if inspired by 
God with the knowledge of it, that his son is 
safe, and conjure her to banish her uneasiness 
and alarm. She could not be comforted, because 
her heart was a stranger to those principles of 
religion which formed the solid foundation of 
her husband's virtue. How strikingly does this 
contrast of disposition and conduct in Tobias 
and Anna prove to us, that our present comfort 
and welfare, no less than our future happiness, 
are closely connected with a steady adherence to 
the principles of religion ! To pass through this 
life without trials is not to be expected ; happy, 
therefore, is that Christian, who, during the time 
of tranquillity and peace, fortifies his mind against 
the hour of trial, by imprinting deeply in his 
soul those principles which will enable him to 
et his afflictions as the appointments of a 
fatherly Providence, and to turn them into so 
many blessings for eternity, by receiving them 



282 



HOMILIES ON 



with cheerful submission to the will of heaven. 
Viewing our afflictions in the light in which 
religion places them before us, and sanctifying 
them by the. holy dispositions in which she 
directs us to embrace them, we shall, like the 
aged Tobias, find comfort even under the severest 
of trials ; and not, like Anna, be left destitute of 
consolation and of hope. 

Ver. 8. But Raguel said to his son-in-law : Stay here, and I 
will send a messenger to Tobias thy father, that thou art 

in health 9- And Tobias said to him: I know that ray 

father and mother now count the days; and their spirit is 

grievously afflicted within them 10. And when Raguel 

had pressed Tobias with many words, and he by no means 
would hearken to him, he delivered Sara unto him, and 
half of all his substance, in men-servants and women* 
servants, in cattle, in camels, and in kine, and in much 

money, and sent him away safe and joyful from him 

11. Saying: The holy Angel of the Lord be with you in 
your journey, and bring you through safe, and that you 
may find all things well about your parents, and my eyes 
may see your children before I die 12. And the pa- 
rents taking their daughter, kissed her and let her go : 

13. Admonishing her to honour her father and mother- 
m-law, to love her husband, to take care of the family, 
to govern well the house, and to behave herself without 
blame. 

Raguel, charmed with the virtues of his son- 
in-law, was anxious to detain him a little longer 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 283 

than the fortnight which he had consented to 
stay. But Tobias, having fulfilled the business 
upon which he had been sent by his aged pa- 
rents, and knowing how uneasy they would 
feel during his absence from home, was deter- 
mined not to delay his return any longer with- 
out necessity. As a proof of his affectionate re- 
gard and dutiful submission to his father-in-law, 
he had complied with Raguel's request, and 
spent a fortnight after his marriage at his house. 
This was a respect which he considered due to 
his father-in-law. But he felt the claim which 
his own aged parents had to his attention, and 
he was now resolved to lose no time in ad- 
ministering comfort to them, by his presence at 
home. When pressed by Raguel to remain a 
little longer with him, he modestly suggested 
the affliction which any further delay would oc- 
casion to his parents, and expressed his fixed 
determination to set out upon his journey towards 
home. Raguel, seeing his resolution, consented 
to his departure, and delivered to him one half 
of his substance, according to the promise which 
he had made. On parting with his son-in-law, 
Raguel prayed that the Angel of the Lord might 
be with him on his journey, and conduct him 
home in #afety. The elder Tobias had prayed 
for the same blessing upon his son, when he was 
leaving home. The prayers of these holy men 



284 HOMILIES ON 

clearly shew, that the faith of the ancient patri- 
archs respecting the ministry of Angels was re- 
ligiously preserved among the Israelites ; that this 
truth was ever present to their minds, and had a 
powerful and becoming influence upon their ac- 
tions. From God alone they looked for succour 
and blessing, both for themselves and their friends ; 
but they confidently expected that it was by 
the ministry of Angels this succour and this bles- 
sing would be bestowed upon them. 

Truly affecting is the tender farewell which 
Raguel and his wife take of their daughter and 
her husband. Truly important and instructive 
is the advice which they give to Sara; they 
make use of but few words, but those few words 
contain in substance every counsel that is proper 
for a young woman just entered into the married 
state. They " admonish her to honour her father 
and mother-in-law, to love her husband, to take 
care of her family, to govern well her house, and 
to behave herself without blame." ver. 13. They 
speak not of her duty to God : in this point they 
are confident that she will not be deficient. They 
had trained her in the path of virtue from her 
infancy, and they had witnessed the happy fruits 
of their labours in her advancing age ; they had 
seen her constant and fervent in her devotions 
to God, and affectionately obedient to their own 
orders during the years which she had passed 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 285 

under her parent's roof; they doubt not, there- 
fore, that she will continue during her whole life 
to be guided by the same principles, in these 
branches of duty. But they now behold their 
daughter entering into a new state of life, bring- 
ing with it the most important obligations ; upon 
the faithful discharge of which they know that 
her own happiness, and that of her family, will 
principally depend. It is too true; that few 
Christian parents think of pointing out these 
obligations to their children at the proper time ; 
and few young persons, when they enter into 
matrimony, seem sensible that such obligations 
are attached to their state. But it is not so 
with those who are really servants of God ; who 
are Christians, not merely in name, but in prac- 
tice ; and who are really desirous of pleasing 
God during life, of enjoying him after death, and 
of meeting their children in the realms of bliss. 
Like Raguel and Anna, they not only teach 
♦their families the general duties of prayer, of 
charity, and justice, and of abstaining from sin ; 
they not only fulfil their own obligations, but 
in settling their children in the world, look prin- 
cipally to the sanctification and salvation of their 
souls, and hence are careful to impress upon their 
minds the obligation of studying and practising 
the respective duties attached to the state of life 
which they embrace. For, as an eminent servant 



286 



HOMILIES ON 



of God (Bishop Challoner) observes, true sanctity, 
or holiness of life, does not consist in performing 
any extraordinary actions, but in performing the 
ordinary duties of our calling extraordinarily 
well.; that is, with a pure motive of pleasing 
God, and in the best possible manner. The 
wisdom of divine Providence has permitted 
different stations in life, none of which he ex- 
cludes from a title to everlasting life, so long 
as there is nothing in them which is incompatible 
with the maxims of the gospel. Sanctity then, 
is not confined to any one state of life, but is 
attainable in all states. The lives of the Saints 
who have gone before us in the path of virtue, 
inform us, that there is not a single station in 
life, from the throne to the cottage, which has 
not been adorned by the practice of Christian 
virtue, and, consequently, which has not produced 
Saints. But every state of life has certain pe- 
culiar duties attached to it, which form it's most 
essential obligations, and on the practice of which 
depends the eternal happiness of those who are 
engaged in it. It is possible then, and not un- 
frequently the case, that Christians may be very 
regular and exemplary as to the practice of cer- 
tain general duties, such as morning and evening- 
prayer, attending at mass, frequenting the sa- 
craments, &c. and at the same time be very 
ignorant of, and very deficient in the practice 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 287 

of the very obligations on the discharge of which 
their claim to eternal life depends. Unacquainted 
with these obligations, they go on in the same 
beaten track which they see trodden by others 
who are reputed good Christians : in approach- 
ing to the sacraments, they examine their con- 
sciences only as to general duties; and rinding 
no reproach on those points, they pursue their 
usual course under the confidence of a false 
security, and thus live and die in the neglect 
of many important obligations. This fatal igno- 
rance, and this neglect of the duties of their 
state of life, will prove the exclusion of many 
from the kingdom of God, who, though wear- 
ing the appearance of Saints in the eyes of 
men, in the sight of God will stand condemned 
of a gross and criminal violation of their most 
important obligations, as husbands, wives, parents, 
pastors, masters, servants, &e. 

I cannot then, my beloved brethren, impress 
too strongly upon your minds, how much it is 
incumbent upon you to study well what are 
the obligations of that state of life in which 
you are placed ; to examine with rigid nicety, 
when you go to confession, your conduct in 
fulfilling those obligations ; to attend to the ad- 
vice of your director on this important point ; 
and to make it your principal care, after re- 
ceiving the sacraments, to discharge with greater 



288 HOMILIES ON 






exactness and fidelity the duties of your calling. 
Thus you will truly become good Christians, 
servants of God, and followers of his Saints. 
In these holy persons, the great principle of 
their sanctity was their strict attention to the 
duties of their station. The same principle, as 
we see in the example before us of Raguel 
and Anna, they instilled into their children. 

In the advice which these holy persons give 
to their daughter, they confine themselves to 
her duties as a wife, the mistress of a family ; 
and the advice is deserving the attention of young 
married women. First, they admonish her to ho- 
nour her father and mother-in-law ; to pay them, 
even in old age and infirmity, attention, respect, 
and reverence ; to shew them that kind and af- 
fectionate deference, with which nature directs 
children to repay the love and the tenderness 
of their parents, considering the parents of her 
husband as her own, being no longer but one 
in heart and affection with him. Secondly, They 
admonish her to love her husband with a love 
of tenderness, respect, and submission. Oh ! how 
much does the happiness of married persons 
depend upon their cherishing a mutual affec- 
tion ; an affection, which can be preserved only 
by husband and wife studying to learn each 
other's inclination, to avoid what would dis- 
please or aggravate, and cheerfully perform that 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 289 

which they know will give pleasure to their 
partner. Thirdly, they admonish Sara to take 
care of her family, to remember that the souls 
of her children and servants would be entrusted 
to her charge, to see them punctual in the ful- 
filment of their religious duties, to instruct them 
in the truths of salvation, to watch over their 
morals, to give them an edifying example, and 
not to neglect any thing which might contri- 
bute to turn them from evil and lead them to 
good. Lastly, they admonish her to govern 
well her household, by good management, order, 
and regularity, in all her domestic concerns ; and 
to keep herself without blame, by a holy ancj. 
irreproachable life, in all chastity, mildness, gen- 
tleness, and a general prudence of conduct, so 
exemplary as to form the comfort of her hus- 
band, the happiness of her family, and the edifi- 
cation of her neighbour. St. Paul, in his Epistle 
to Titus, chap. ii. ver. 4. gives nearly the same 
advice to young women, " to love their husbands 
and families, to be discreet, chaste, sober, having 
a care of the house, gentle, obedient to their 
husbands, that the word of God may not be 
blasphemed." Let all in the married state con- 
sider this advice as addressed to themselves, and 
regulate their lives by it. 

U 



TWENTY-SECOND HOMILY 



Chap. XL ver. 1. And as they were returning, they came to 
Charan, which is in the midway to Ninive, the eleventh day, 

2. And the Angel said: Brother Tobias, thou knowest 

how thou didst leave thy father 3. If it please thee, 

therefore, let us go before, and let the family follow softly 

after us, together with thy wife, and thy beasts . 4. And 

as this their going pleased him, Raphael said to Tobias : Take 
with thee the gall of the fish, for it will be necessary. So 
Tobias took some of that gall, and departed. 



jL h e young Tobias having taken leave of his 
father and mother-in-law, lost no time in making 
the best of his way home. When he had ad- 
vanced half way on his journey, the angel Ra- 
phael, knowing the anxiety which his aged parents 
felt on account of the long absence of their son, 
proposed to Tobias to hasten forwards with him- 
self, leaving his wife and the rest of his family 
to follow after by slower journeys. At the same 
time, Raphael reminded Tobias to take with him 
a part of the gall of the fish, which God designed 
to make the instrument of his mercy towards 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 291 

his aged father. Guided by a spirit of docility, 
and obedient in all things to the advice of his 
conductor, Tobias obeyed without hesitation the 
directions which the Angel gave him, and went 
forward with him. No earthly tie, not even his 
strong affection for his virtuous wife, could shake 
the steady determination of his mind to walk 
in the path of humble obedience, or induce him 
to prefer his own will before what he believed 
to be the will of God. As he was drawing nea4r 
to his home, 

Ver. 7. Raphael said to Tobias : As soon as thou shalt come 
into thy house, forthwith adore the Lord thy God: and 

giving thanks to him, go to thy father and kiss him.- 

8. And immediately anoint his eyes with this gall of the fish 
which thou earnest with thee. For be assured that his eyes 
shall be presently opened, and thy father shall see the light 
of heaven, and shall rejoice in the sight of thee, 

The Angel advises Tobias as soon as he enters 
his father's house, to let the duties of religion 
be his first concern, to pour forth his heart in 
fervent adoration to God, and thank him for his 
gracious protection during his journey. Such is 
the conduct which true piety points out to those 
in whose breasts it dwells. The greatest Saints 
have made it their constant practice to follow 
this rule through the course of their lives. The 



292 HOMILIES ON 

great St. Benedict, in the rule which he gave 
to his monks, ordained that when they received 
strangers at their convents they should first con- 
duct them to the Church to perform a short 
act of devotion. Indeed, as God is the fust be- 
ginning and the last end of all our things, to 
him we should consecrate the beginning and the 
end of all our actions. This should form a part 
of our morning devotions each day of our ex- 
istence ; and lest, through the hurry of worldly 
business, or the fascinating allurements of earthly 
pleasures, our minds should lose sight of this 
obligation of making God the beginning and end 
of all that we do ; lest any want of a pure in- 
tention of the divine glory, should vitiate our 
actions and rob them of their claim to a future 
reward, we should be careful, like the Saints of 
God, to renew frequently in our minds a sense 
of the divine presence, and repeat the offering 
of our. actions and employments to our Creator. 
Besides, we are at each moment of our lives 
in the midst of a host of dangers which threaten 
us, and from which nothing but the omnipotent 
power and unbounded goodness of the Deity 
can deliver us. Placed then each instant under 
the most weighty obligations to God for past 
favours, and depending upon him each moment 
for future mercy, our lives, if possible, should form 
one continued act of adoration, thanksgiving, and 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 293 

supplication. The Church of God, sensible of 
this duty, has consecrated the different parts of 
the day to prayer ; appointing her ministers, at 
what are termed the canonical hours, to fulfil 
this sacred duty, and inviting her children fre- 
quently to unite in the same holy exercise. 

The history of the Church in it's state of pri- 
mitive fervour informs us how attentive the first 
Christians were to the duty of frequent prayer. 
If any business, or a journey, prevented them 
from assisting on the week-days at public prayer 
in the house of God, they failed not to pray at 
the appointed times, which were every three 
hours. To renew more frequently in their minds 
a sense of the divine presence, and to fulfil as 
nearly as they possibly could the advice of Jesus 
Christ, who exhorts us to pray always, they 
offered up a short prayer before every action of 
the day. The precept of St. Paul to the Colossi- 
ans was constantly in their thoughts, " What- 
soever ye do in word or in work, do ail in the 
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks 
to God and the Father through him." Col. iii. 17. 
Tl^eir daily labours, whether in the field or in 
the shop, were begun and ended with prayer. 
Their acts of devotion throughout the day were 
all accompanied with the sign of the cross, as 
an expression of their faith, a pledge of their 
hope, and a token of their love and gratitude. 

U3 



29* HOMILIES ON 

Tertullian, one of the earliest Christian writers, 
tells vis, that the first Christians used this holy 
sign of their redemption at almost every moment, 
particularly whenever they went out of their 
houses or came in, when they dressed or un- 
dressed, when they sat down to their meals or 
rose up from them. Let it be remembered too, 
that the Christians who were thus constant in 
prayer and in the use of the sign of the cross, 
lived in the midst of reviling Jews and insulting 
Pagans, who ridiculed and despised the religion 
of Christ, and persecuted such as professed it. 
Yet the first Christians, notwithstanding the con- 
tempt, the taunts, and the cruelties of their ad- 
versaries, persevered with unshaken constancy in 
the profession of their faith, and in a steady adhe- 
rence to the practices and ceremonies sanctioned 
by the Catholic Church. Let their piety be your 
model ; guided by the same spirit, raise up your 
hearts frequently during the day to Almighty 
God, and implore his blessing, more especially 
when undertaking any business of importance, 
when going a journey or returning from it. 
These, and the like holy practices, will draw down 
the divine blessing upon your going out and 
coming in, (Psalm cxx.) and will merit the pro- 
tection of heaven at every step which you take. 

The holy Scripture, after detailing to us the 
directions which Raphael gave the young Tobias 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 295 

on his drawing near to his father's house, relates 
this affectionate meeting with his parents, in a 
style of simplicity which is truly affecting, and 
which far surpasses all the embellishments that 
the pen of the brightest genius could bestow. 



Fer. 5. But Anna (his mother) sat beside the way daily, on 

the top of a hill, from whence she might see afar off. 

6. And while she watched his coming from that place, she 
saw him afar off, and presently perceived it was her son 
coming, and returning she told her husband, saying : Behold, 

thy son cometh 9. Then the dog which had been with 

them in the way, ran before, and coming as if he had brought 
the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his 

taiL 10. And his father that was blind, rising up, began 

to run, stumbling with his feet : and giving a servant his 

hand, went to meet his son. 11. And receiving him, 

kissed him, as did also his wife, and they began to weep for 

joy- 
Nothing can exceed the admirable and affecting 
simplicity of this narrative. The majesty of the 
sacred writings does not consist in the pomp of 
human eloquence, but in an inimitable simplicity 
of style and expression, which at once strikes 
the imagination and affects the heart. The grief 
and regret of a fond mother, whose impatient 
anxiety leads her daily to the top of some hill 
to look for her darling son ; the haste with which 

U4 



2$i 



HOMILIES OK 



she runs, as soon as she perceives her son, to 
impart the joyful tidings to her husband ; the 
eagerness with which the old man, notwithstand- 
ing his blindness, rises from his seat, and runs 
to meet his son, stumbling at every step he takes ; 
these are traits of inimitable beauty, and form 
a truly interesting and affecting tale. That no- 
thing might be wanting to complete this sketch 
of nature in it's most agreeable form of unadorned 
simplicity, the holy Scripture mentions the affec- 
tion and fidelity of the little dog which had 
accompanied the young Tobias on his journey. 
What the sacred text relates of this circumstance 
may at first sight appear too low and trifling; 
but we are not to judge of the works of God 
by what appears little or great in our ideas. All 
the works of the Deity are admirable in them- 
selves ; and oftentimes those which seem the most 
mean and contemptible, are most deserving of 
our attention and admiration. The beauties of 
nature, even in it's minutest parts, are frequently 
noticed by the royal Prophet with a sublimity 
of expression that fills the soul with the most 
exalted notions of the power, wisdom, and good- 
ness of the Creator ; and points out to us, even 
in the meanest of God's works, subjects of asto- 
nishment, admiration, praise, and thanksgiving. 
The dog is one of the most common of our 
domestic animals ; he diverts us with his fond 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 297 

caresses, guards our house with fidelity, is grate- 
ful for favours, and immoveable in his attachment 
to his master. Yet, endowed with these proper- 
ties, or, if I may so express myself, blessed with 
these animal virtues, he is not possessed of a soul 
as we are, nor has in him a principle of immor- 
tality. But, too often do we find even in this 
animal, an affection, a gratitude, a fidelity, which 
we in vain look for in man, though gifted by 
his divine Master with an immortal soul, bearing 
in itself the image of it's Creator, and destined for 
an eternal union with him. 

Ver, 12. And when they had adored God, and given him 

thanks, they sat down together. 13. Then Tobias, taking 

of the gall of the fish, anointed his father's eyes 14. And 

he stayed aboat half an hour: and a white skin began to 
come out of his eyes, like the skin of an egg. ...... 15. And 

Tobias took hold of it, and drew it from his eyes, and im- 
mediately he recovered his sight 16. And they glori- 
fied God, both he and his wife, and all that knew him 

17. And Tobias said: I bless thee, O Lord God of Israel, be- 
cause thou hast chastised me, and thou hast saved me, and 
behold I see Tobias my son. 

The young Tobias, like his father, is the same 
in prosperity and adversity; nothing can draw 
him aside from the path of duty. Though over- 
joyed at seeing again his aged parents, he does 
laot forget the directions of his guide. The Angel 




298 EFOMILIES ON 

had told him to make his first act on entering 
his father's house an act of adoration and grati- 
tude to God for the protection and the blessings 
which had attended him on his journey. Tobias 
strictly fulfils this advice, and his parents unite 
with him in blessing and praising the goodness 
of God. The Angel had directed Tobias, in the 
second place, to anoint his father's eyes with the 
gall of the fish, assuring him that his faith, hu- 
mility, and obedience, would be rewarded by see- 
ing his aged parent recover his sight. Tobias, 
the child of docility and obedience, after paying 
his homage of thanksgiving to God in fervent 
prayer, applied the gall of the fish, as the Angel 
had directed, and in half an hour his father re- 
covered his sight. This miracle of the divine 
power and goodness, called forth an immediate 
return of gratitude and praise from this holy 
family. Nor was the tribute of grateful thanks- 
giving confined to those who lived in TBbbias's 
house ; their kinsmen and acquaintance joined 
their hearts and voices in proclaiming the won- 
ders of God's mercy, pouring forth the sentiments 
of hearts, inflamed with that true charity which 
both " weeps with those who weep, and rejoices 
with those who rejoice." The Old Testament, 
which is the history of the patriarchal and the 
Jewish Church, is one continued display of the 
most astonishing miracles. Sometimes we be- 






THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 299 

hold the Deity stretching out his omnipotent 
arm for the protection or support of his whole 
people ; at other times, exerting his omnipotence 
in favour of some more chosen individual, dis- 
tinguished for his virtue. In every page we 
discover that particular providence, which, even 
in this life, marks out the just as the objects of 
God's tender affection, and designates the wicked 
as the victims of God's indignation. At one 
time we behold his whole people passing in safety 
through the waters of the sea; shaded in the 
desert from the burning heat of the sun during 
the day ; illuminated, during the night, with a 
a pillar of fire; fed with bread from heaven; 
triumphing over enemies, whose power seemed 
invincible, and put in possession of a land which 
the arm ^of 4 *i±re- Almighty had cleared of it's 
original inhabitants, whose numbers and whose 
strength had struck his people with terror, and 
to human views appeared irresistible : at other 
times, we behold Angels deputed for the pre- 
servation of some more chosen servant of the 
most High ; Lot snatched by their ministry 
from the flames of Sodom ; Abraham receiving 
by the same means the promise of a son ; Elias 
caught up in a chariot of fire; Daniel seated 
unhurt and undaunted amidst hungry lions ; and 
Tobias miraculously restored to sight. 

In the New Testament, the Son of God is held 



300 HOMILIES ON 

out to us during the course of his public life, as 
constantly exerting his infinite power in miracu- 
lously conferring benefits upon mankind. He, 
who was Truth itself, declared that, astonish- 
ing as these miracles seemed to the crowds who 
witnessed them, his followers should be enabled 
to work wonders that should far surpass them. 
The history of the Catholic Church attests the 
fulfilment of this declaration of her Founder, not 
only in the period of her first establishment and 
primitive fervour, but in every age, even to our 
times. The adversaries of our holy faith deny 
this historical truth, but upon grounds so con- 
tradictory as to destroy their own testimony. 
Not a single argument can be brought by them 
against the authentic miracles recorded to have 
been wrought by the Saints of God in each cen- 
tury, that would not equally invalidate the 
miracles related in the gospel. Their own re- 
ligious systems, the mere inventions of men, can 
bring no proof of miraculous interpositions of 
divine Providence in their favour, because He 
who alone can suspend the laws of nature, being 
Truth itself, will not exert his omnipotence in 
contradiction to himself, or in confirmation of 
error. But in vain do they attempt to strip 
the true spouse of Christ, the Catholic Church, 
of the splendid light of miracles, with which her 
divine Founder has invested her, and which is 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. SOI 

sufficient to discover her to all who sincerely 
seek her, and who are not afraid of coming to 
the light The arm of the Deity is not shortened ; 
but amidst all the storms that assail his Church, 
and the darkness with which her enemies attempt 
to hide her, God still miraculously preserves her, 
enlightens her, and, by the miracles with which 
he honours some of her illustrious members, de- 
clares her to be the work of his omnipotence, 
his favoured spouse, his chosen inheritance. Oh ! 
that with a heart, like that of the good Tobias, 
grateful for the divine goodness which has mer- 
cifully enlightened our spiritual blindness, and 
made the light of his true faith to shine upon 
us, we may daily pay him the homage of our 
thanksgiving, and by holiness of life endeavour 
to make our neighbours partakers of our light 
and joy, thatthey -also may glorify God in the 
day of visitation! — Tobias, full of joy at the 
recovery of his sight, praised God even for his 
past blindness, which he considered as sent him 
for the purification of his soul, and the perfection 
of his virtue. His joy, for the blessings conferred 
on himself and his son, received it's accomplish- 
ment in the safe arrival of his daughter-in-law, 
and her servants and possessions. 

Ver. 18. And after seven days, Sara his son's wife, and all the 
family arrived safe, and the cattle and the camels, and an 



302 



HOMILIES, &C. 



abundance of money of his wive's; and that money also 

which he had received from Gabelus 19. And he told 

his parents all the benefits of God, which he had done to 

him by the man that conducted him 20. And Achior 

and Nabath, the kinsmen of Tobias, came rejoicing for 
Tobias, and congratulating with him, for all the good things 

that God had done for him 21. And for seven 

they feasted and rejoiced all with great joy. 



In prosperity as well as in adversity, the Saints 
of God look to the hand of Providence as the 
cause of whatever befalls them. Their joy and 
their afflictions are alike sanctified by the dis- 
positions of a heart ever sensible of the divine 
goodness, and ever ready to embrace all the 
appointments of heaven. Tobias, at the safe ar- 
rival of his daughter-in-law, renewed his thanks- 
giving to the Author of all good, and in- 
vited his kinsmen, with whose piety he was ac- 
quainted, to unite with him in grateful acknow- 
ledgment to God. During seven days he out- 
wardly expressed his joy and gratitude in enter- 
taining his friends ; but his soul continued her 
unceasing homage of daily acts of gratitude during 
his mortal life, faithfully fulfilling on earth that 
happy occupation which will form it's eternal 
employment and delight in the mansions of the 
blessed. 



TWENTY THIRD HOMILY. 



Chap. XII. ver. I. Then Tobias called to him his son, and said 
to him : What can we give this holy man that is come with 

thee? 2. Tobias answering, said to his father: Father, 

what wages shall we give him ? or what can be worthy of 

his benefits ? 3. He conducted me, and brought me safe 

again ; he received the money of Gabelus ; he caused me to 
have my wife, and he chased from her the evil spirit ; he 
gave joy to her parents; myself he delivered from being 
devoured by the fish ; thee also he hath made to see the 
light of heaven, and we are filled with all good things 
through him. What can we give him sufficient for these 

things? 4. But I beseech thee, my father, to desire him 

that he would vouchsafe to accept of one half of all things 
that have been brought. ...... 5. So the father and the son, 

calling him, took him aside ; and began to desire him that 
he would vouchsafe to accept of half of all things that they 
had brought. 

JL h e elder Tobias, on the return of his son, 
and the recovery of his sight, made it the first 
object of his care to express his grateful sense of 
the mercy of God, by fervent thanksgiving. He 
invited his relations and friends to unite with 
him in the same holy exercise. Having fulfilled 



304 



HOMILIES ON 



this obligation, his mind could not rest without 
making a proper acknowledgment to the faithful 
guide, to whom, under God, himself and his son 
were indebted for so many blessings. He there- 
fore calls his son to open to him his own sen- 
timents, and, as his son was best acquainted with 
what would be agreeable to his guide, to consult 
with him as to the manner in which they should 
recompense his services. No one can read the 
conversation which passed between this holy 
father and son on this occasion, without being 
struck with admiration at the sublime and amiable 
sentiments of gratitude that dwelt in their breasts. 
The young Tobias, in particular, seems to want 
words to express his feelings, while he recounts 
the benefits which himself, his father, his wife, 
and her parents had received from the faithful 
Azarias. Both these holy men, the elder and 
the younger Tobias, seem at a loss to find out 
a proper reward for the services of this trusty, 
guide. They confess that it is out of their power 
to make him an acknowledgment proportioned 
to his kindness. At last they send for Azarias, 
and with heartfelt pleasure make him an offer 
of the one-half of their substance, as the best 
proof of gratitude their circumstances will afford. 



Ver. 6. Then the Angel said to them secretly: Bless ye the 
God of heaven, give glory to him in the sight of all that 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 305 

live, because he hath shewed his mercy to you 7. For 

it is good to hide the secret of a king ; but honourable to 

reveal and confess the works of God 8. Prayer is good 

with fasting and alms, more than to lay up treasures of 

gold; 9« Fo 1 * alms delivereth from death, and the same 

is that which purgeth from sins, and maketh to find mercy 

and life everlasting 10. But they that commit sin and 

iniquity, are enemies to their own soul. 

The time was now come when the veil with 
which Providence had concealed it's ways from 
it's servants was to be drawn aside, and the 
Angel who had been sent for their comfort and 
protection was to discover himself to them. To 
the kind offer which Tobias and his son had 
made of the one half of their substance, the 
angel Raphael replies : Bless the God of heaven, 
and praise himTbefore mankind, for it is to his 
mercy, and not to me, that you are indebted for 
the blessings which you have received. The 
Angel, before he unfolds to them the secret of 
God's providence towards them, makes them re- 
mark the difference between the ways of God 
and those of earthly sovereigns. The success 
of the counsels of an earthly prince, depends 
much upon the fidelity of his ministers in keep- 
ing his plans a profound secret; his enemies, 
by discovering those plans, might prevent Itheir 
being put in execution : but no power, either in 

X 



306 



HOMILIES ON 



earth or hell, can frustrate the designs of God, or 
hinder their effect. For his counsels there is no 
need of secrecy : but, on the contrary, it is a 
part of the zeal and gratitude which are due 
from his servants, to publish to others the wonders 
of his providence, and proclaim to the world the 
miracles of his goodness and power, that man- 
kind may glorify him, may learn to put their 
trust in him, and, by a faithful observance of 
his law, may merit his protection. 

The Angel then confirms Tobias and his son 
in the faith of certain important truths with 
which they were before well acquainted, and 
by which they had regulated their lives. Prayer, 
says he, is good, when accompanied with fasting 
and alms-deeds. No earthly riches are worthy 
to be compared to the eternal treasures which 
the practice of these virtues brings with it to 
the soul. If each one of these excellent works 
is attended with blessings from heaven, how pow- 
erfully must their united efficacy tend to disarm 
God's indignation, to open the door of his mercy, 
and obtain admission into the kingdom of heaven ! 
These are points, however, upon which I have, 
in my former instructions, detailed to you at 
length the maxims of the divine word. The 
Angel adds : " they that commit sin and iniquity 
are enemies to their own soul." The royal 
Prophet, in the 10th Psalm, delivers the same 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 307 

sentiment : " he that loveth iniquity, hateth his 
own soul." As sin brings death to the soul, by 
robbing it of it's spiritual life, the grace of God ; 
he who wilfully commits sin, is the enemy and 
the murderer of his own soul. How frightful 
is the truth which the holy Scripture delivers 
in these few words ! Who can think of it with- 
out horror ! The wilful sinner is guilty of a crime 
which, in the language of the Holy Spirit, is a 
murder ; a murder of the worst kind, a murder 
by which the sinner inflicts upon himself a far 
more deadly wound than any which could be 
given him by the hand that should aim a blow 
for the destruction of the life of his body. Oh ! 
that these words may ever be deeply impressed 
upon your minds, my beloved brethren : " those 
who commit ~Mmiity are enemies to their own 
soul." 

The angel Raphael then discovers himself in 
the following terms : 

Vcr. 11. I discover then the truth unto you, and I will not 

hide the secret from you 12. When thou didst pray 

with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy 
dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house, and bury 

them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord 13. And 

because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that 
temptations should prove thee 14. And now the Lord 

X2 



308 HOMILIES ON 

hath sent me to heal thee, and to deliver Sara thy son's wife, 

from the devil 15. For I am the angel Raphael, one 

of the seven who stand before the Lord. 

The Catholic Church has, in every age, inculcated 
to her children the doctrine which is here delivered 
to the holy Tobias by an Angel from heaven, which 
was confirmed by the Son of God, and is expressly 
mentioned in the creed taught by his inspired 
Apostles, the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. 
While the Catholic Church teaches us, that the 
God who created the universe, and who rules and 
governs the world which he has created, is the 
only object of adoration ; while she faithfully 
calls upon her children to pay to the Supreme 
Being alone, the homage of their faith, hope, 
charity, and religious worship ; she instructs us 
to honour and respect the happy Spirits, whom 
God himself has honoured by making them par- 
takers of his own glory, and to look to them as 
our friends at the throne of divine grace, who 
are continually exerting their kind and power- 
ful influence for us, by prayer and intercession. 
This doctrine of the Catholic Church is confirmed 
both by the Old and New Testament, in a variety 
of passages. What can be a clearer proof of this 
holy communion which we enjoy with the citizens 
of the heavenly Jerusalem, than the assurance 
of the angel Raphael to Tobias : " When thou 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 



309 



didst pray with tears, I offered thy prayer to 
the Lord." Yes, these holy Spirits, who behold 
their God face to face, and taste those joys which 
flow from the presence of his majesty, compas- 
sionate our weakness; and knowing the malice 
of our spiritual enemies, and the dangers which 
surround us, advocate our cause by their prayers, 
and supplicate for mercy in our behalf, through 
the merits of our divine Redeemer. In the New 
Testament, St. John, in the book of Revelations, 
tells us, that he saw " an Angel who stood before 
the altar, having a golden censer ; and there was 
given to him much incense, that he should offer 
of the prayers of all the Saints, upon the golden 
altar which is before the throne of God. And 
the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the 
Saints ascended up before God from the hand 
of the Angel." Rev. viii. 3, 4. It is a truth then, 
attested by the divine word, both in the Old 
and New Testament, that the Angels present 
to God the prayers of the faithful: not that 
we are to suppose that the Deity stands in need 
of their ministry to know our wants or petitions ; 
but we believe that those holy Spirits, united 
to us by the bonds of charity, ardently desire 
our salvation, and joining their prayers to ours, 
aid us in obtaining from God's mercy the suc- 
cours necessary for securing our eternal happiness. 
Faithfully adhering then to the doctrine of the 

X3 



310 



HOMILIES ON 



Church, and guided by her spirit, let us ever 
look up with confidence to the assistance of those 
friends of the Most High, who are now reigning 
with him ; let us cultivate on earth that holy 
friendship with them, which will subsist hereafter 
throughout eternity in heaven ; let us imitate 
their fidelity to God, by a diligent observance 
of the divine commandments, and we shall both 
enjoy the benefit of this holy communion upon 
earth, and reap the fruits of it in their happy 
society in the world to come. The same holy 
Scripture, which represents the Angels as so soli- 
citous for our spiritual welfare, and so powerfully 
aiding us by their prayers, represents them as 
frequently employed in performing offices of cha- 
rity for the temporal benefit of God's servants. 
Thus the angel Raphael says, that he was sent 
by God to deliver Sara from the power of the 
devil, and to cure the blindness with which divine 
providence had afflicted Tobias. This trial, in 
the order of God's providence, was necessary for 
the perfection of Tobias's virtue. " Because thou 
wast agreeable to God, it was necessary that 
temptations should prove thee." Without the 
knowledge of this truth, that afflictions are neces- 
sary for the just, the conduct of Almighty God 
towards his servants must be an inexplicable 
mystery. It is not through a life of ease, of 
pleasure, and enjoyment, that the Saints are to 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 311 

arrive at eternal bliss. What Jesus Christ, the 
Saint of Saints has said of himself, is applicable 
to all his faithful servants : " It was necessary 
that the Christ should suffer, and so should enter 
into his glory." Luke xxiv. 26. All those, there- 
fore, who are mystically united to the body of 
Christ, as members to their head, must, if they 
hope to share in his glory, be partakers of his 
sufferings. This truth is evident from the lives 
of all the eminent servants of God, both in the 
Old and the New Law. Abraham, Joseph, David, 
St. John Baptist, the blessed Virgin, St. Paul, 
and his fellow Apostles, closely resembled Jesus 
Christ in his sufferings; and by their sufferings 
became entitled to a participation of his glory. 
Afflictions then, so far from dejecting us, ought 
to fiH us with hope and consolation; they are 
one of the marks of those who are predestined 
to eternal life. If we are free from trial and 
persecution, we have reason to tremble for our 
eternal lot, because we resemble not Jesus 
Christ and his Saints. But, if we feel the 'heavy 
■scourge of affliction, we have reason ±@ Tejoice 
and to hope. Let us then make it our daily 
prayer, not to be dispensed from suffering, but 
that under our sufferings we may imitate the 
servants of God in their fidelity, and that the 
divine will may be ever accomplished in us. 
The Angel having explained to Tobias the 

X4 



312 HOMILIES ON 

designs of God's providence in sending him to 
the assistance of himself and his family, declares 
his name and his holy office : " I am the angel 
Raphael, one of the seven who stand before the 
Lord." The prophet Daniel represents the ma- 
jesty of God as seated on a throne of fire, sur- 
rounded by millions of blessed Spirits, who con- 
tinually stand in the presence of their God. But 
St. John, in the Revelations, chap. i. ver. 4. points 
out among the heavenly host, seven Spirits, who 
stand before the throne, the leaders of the celes- 
tial army, the most perfect and the most holy 
of those blessed Spirits whom God employs for 
the accomplishment of his greatest and most im- 
portant designs. One of these seven the angel 
Raphael declares himself to be; and the very 
mention of his name and dignity fills Tobias and 
his family with fear and trembling. 

Ver. 16. And when they had heard these things, they were 
troubled; and being seized with fear, they fell upon the 

ground on their face 17. And the Angel said to them: 

Peace be to you, fear not 18. For when I was with you, 

I was there by the will of God : bless ye him, and sing 

praises to him ip. I seemed indeed to eat and to drink 

with you ; but I use an invisible meat and drink, which can- 
not be seen by men 20. It is time, therefore, that I re- 
turn to him that sent me : but bless ye God, and publish all 
his wonderful works. 

We are taught by our divine Redeemer in the 



^THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 313 

Lord's prayer, to petition that we may imitate 
the blessed Spirits in the readiness and cheer- 
fulness with which they execute the will of God. 
The angel Raphael, in recalling to Tobias's me- 
mory the wonders which God had wrought for 
him and his family, gives the glory of all the 
favours, of which he himself had been the instru- 
ment, to the sovereign Author of all good. He 
consoles them ; he bids them banish their fears, 
and think only of the obligation under which 
they are, of returning their heartfelt praise and 
thanksgiving to the divine bounty. 

" I seemed," says the Angel, " to eat and to 
drink with you; but I use an invisible meat 
which cannot be seen by men." We are not to 
understand from these words, that the angel 
Raphael practised— amy deception, and did not 
eat and drink in reality. St. Augustin teaches, 
that the Angels who appeared to the servants of 
God under a human shape, eat and drank in the 
same manner as men, but not through any neces- 
sity. " The bodies of the just," continues this 
holy father, " after the general resurrection, being 
no longer susceptible of hunger or thirst, will 
not stand in need of corporal food. Clothed with 
a glorious immortality, they will retain the power, 
but not the necessity of eating or drinking. In 
like manner, the holy Angels are recorded in 
Scripture to have eaten and drunk with the ser- 



3U 



HOMILIES ON 



vants of God ; not that there was any necessity 
for their doing so, but they complied with these 
outward natural functions of men, to humanize 
themselves, and to resemble more closely those 
for whose service they were sent. But while 
they were thus employed upon earth in fulfilling 
the designs for which God had sent them, they 
ceased not to enjoy the beatific vision of their 
God, and the happiness of the heavenly Jerusa- 
lem. There, satiated with a spiritual and immor- 
tal food, with which He who is the eternal truth, 
infinite light, and immortal wisdom, fills and 
supports their being, they look down with com- 
passion upon us in this world of misery and sin, 
they succour us by their powerful aid, and re- 
joice to be the instruments of divine Providence 
in furnishing us with those helps that " will enable 
us to walk faithfully on in the path that will 
conduct us to a happy and eternal union with 
them." " I was with you," said Raphael, " by 
the order of God :" but even then he enjoyed the 
sight of God, and this was the invisible meat 
which nourished him. 



Ver. 21. And when he had said these things, he was taken from 

their sight, and they could see him no more 22. Then 

they, lying prostate for three hours upon their face, blessed 
God, and rising up, they told all his wonderful works. 

Having accomplished the important objects for 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 315 

which he had been deputed by divine Providence, 
the angel Raphael disappeared from the earth. 
Tobias and his family, full of admiration and 
gratitude for the favours conferred by his minis- 
try, fell prostrate on the ground, and in silent 
adoration, for three hours, poured forth the fer- 
vent homage of the heart to that all-bountiful 
Being who had vouchsafed to send one of the 
princes of his heavenly court to dispense to them 
the treasures of his mercy. After this silent and 
humble thanksgiving, they rose up, not to give 
their minds to earthly enjoyments, but to publish 
to their neighbours the wonders of God's good- 
ness, and to manifest to the world their grateful 
sense of his mercy. Let the like pious exercise 
form the delight and occupation of your hearts 
and voiees^ j3ay__beloyed brethren, when, having 
approached to the holy communion, you have re- 
ceived the choicest blessing of heaven, not by the 
ministry of an Angel, but by the visit of Him 
who is the joy of Angels — Jesus Christ, your Re- 
deemer, and your God. 



TWENTY-FOURTH HOMILY. 



Chap. XIII. ver. 1. And Tobias the elder opening his mouth, 
blessed the Lord, and said : Thou art great, O Lord, for ever, 

and thy kingdom is unto all ages : 2. For thou scourgest 

and thou savest ; thou leadest down to hell, and bringest up 
again : and there is none that can escape thy hand. 

Tamils* 

Ihe faithful servant of God, Tobias, during 
the three hours in which he lay prostrate on the 
ground in silent adoration, gave up his soul to 
the emotions of gratitude and love, listening with 
awe and reverence to the interior language of 
God's holy Spirit within him. At length, no 
longer able to restrain the flame that was en- 
kindled in his breast by the communications of 
the holy Spirit, and transported with admiration 
at the goodness of God towards his own family, 
and the wonders of his mercy reserved for future 
ages, Tobias breaks forth in that admirable song, 
or canticle, which the holy Scripture records in 
the 13th chapter of his history, and which is 
one of the most sublime and beautiful passages 
of holy writ. The first part of it is a solemn 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 317 

act of thanksgiving, in which this virtuous ser- 
vant of God invites all the children of Israel to 
unite with them ; the second part is a prophecy, 
in which under the figurative name of Jerusalem, 
Tobias, by the direction of the Holy Spirit, fore- 
sees and foretells the glory of the Church of 
Christ, both on earth and in her future triumph- 
ant state in heaven. 

" Thou art great for ever, O Lord," cries out 
the holy Tobias, " and thy kingdom is unto all 
ages." 

The thought of the infinite majesty of that 
God, who had shewn him so many and such 
extraordinary favours, fills his mind. He is over- 
whelmed with sentiments of humility, when he 
considers_that the eternal and incomprehensible 
Deity shouTcTTiave cteigned to stoop down to 
him from the throne of his mercy, and to send 
one of his Angels to visit him, and confer blessings 
upon him. What, my beloved brethren, would 
be the sentiments of a poor beggar, who should 
see himself noticed by an earthly prince, treated 
by him with kindness and attention, relieved in 
all his wants, and provided with every aid and 
comfort in time of sickness and distress ! Would 
he not want words to express his grateful sense 
of the kindness of his princely benefactor ? Y^t, 
this benefactor, though a prince, and great in 
power and in earthly riches, is, like the beggar 



318 HOMILIES ON 

whom he so generously relieves, a frail mortal, 
who must one day resign his possessions, and 
moulder in the dust. His greatness has it's 
bounds, and his power is limited to the duration 
of a few years. But thy greatness, O God, cries 
out the faithful Tobias, is infinite, thy power is 
without bounds, thy empire is universal, thy 
dominion endures for ever. The lapse of ages, 
and the revolutions of time, can neither lessen 
thy power nor shorten it's duration. " What 
then is man, O Lord, that thou shouldst be mind- 
ful of him, or the son of man, that thou shouldst 
visit him ?" Psalm viii. Oh ! that such senti- 
ments as these may have their due influence upon 
our breasts, when we taste of the bounty of this 
great and beneficent God, more especially when 
we partake of the choicest of liis favours, by 
receiving him in the holy communion ! 

" Thou scourgest and thou savest ; thou leadest 
down to hell, and bringest up again ; and there 
is none that can escape thy hand." 

God, the sovereign Lord and ruler of the 
universe, exercises his power with mercy and with 
justice ; he is omnipotent, both to save and to 
punish. In vain shall the sinner fly from his 
face ; in vain shall he attempt to screen himself 
from the anger of the Deity ; God's infinite ven- 
geance will assuredly overtake him and punish 
him. The all-piercing eye of the Supreme Be- 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 319 

ing penetrates the thickest darkness, and searches 
the deepest recesses of the heart. " Shall a man 
be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith 
the Lord." " Do I not fill the heavens and the 
earth, saith the Lord?" "Yes," cries out the 
royal Prophet, " if I ascend up into heaven, thou 
art there ; if I descend into hell, thou art there ; 
if I take wings in the morning, and shall dwell 
in the uttermost bounds of the sea, even thither 
thy hand shall lead me, and thy right-hand shall 
hold me." Psalm cxlix. 

There is no one then that can escape the hand 
of his justice. As God witnesses the crimes of 
the wicked, their violations of his law, and the 
insults which they offer to his adorable majesty, 
he is present with them by his infinite justice, to 
take vengeance--«*^theii? mkjuities. Though the 
sinner may be seated on the highest pinnacle 
of worldly grandeur, and surrounded by a herd 
of flatterers who persuade him that he may in- 
dulge his passions without fear, as there is no 
one to controul or punish him, he shall feel the 
severity of God's justice, and neither rank nor 
power shall save him from the hand of God's 
indignation. But this God, who is thus present 
with sinners by his infinite justice, watches over 
his servants by the presence of his infinite mercy, 
and the arm of his unbounded goodness is ever 
held out for their protection. Sometimes he leads 



320 



HOMILIES ON 



to the very brink of the grave, which is what 
is here meant by the word hell, that he may 
display the magnificence of his power and good- 
ness in the deliverance of his servants. He per- 
mits Isaac to be bound and stretched out as a 
victim for sacrifice, and in an instant diverts the 
blow that is about to deprive him of life. He 
suffers the innocent Joseph to be confined in a 
dungeon with criminals, and on a sudden elevates 
him to the highest dignity in Egypt. He per- 
mits the three children, his faithful adorers, to 
be thrown into a furnace of fire, and preserves 
them in health and safety. Tobias himself he 
afflicts with poverty and blindness, and on a 
sudden restores his sight, and fills him with his 
best and choicest blessings for time and eternity. 
Who then can doubt of the divine power or 
goodness ? Who can want confidence in the di- 
vine protection, though he be placed in the ex- 
tremity of danger and distress ? The arm of his 
mercy is not shortened, but is and ever will be 
ready to protect those who faithfully serve him. 
If it is his will to deliver them, no creature can 
prevent his designs, or retard the effects of his 
mercy. How consoling is this truth to the ser- 
vants of God, that they are ever under the eye 
of that omnipotent and all-merciful God whom 
they serve ; who loves them as the apple of his 
eye, and guards them in all their ways. While 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 321 

the wicked, whose conscience reproaches them 
with criminal violations of the law of their God, 
tremble and shrink with fear at the thought of 
the presence of the Deity ; the just rejoice in 
this truth, and their constant sense of it fills 
them with consolation and with hope. " Let 
God arise, and let his enemies be dispersed ; and 
let them that hate him flee from before his face. 
As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away ; 
as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked 
perish at the presence of God. But let the just 
feast and rejoice before God, and be delighted 
with gladness. Rejoice ye (just) before him: 
but the wicked shall be troubled at the presence 
of him, who is the father of orphans and the 
judge of widows." Psalm lxvii. 1. Animated with 
these holy truths, and impressed with gratitude 
for the protection which he himself had experi- 
enced from the divine power and goodness, Tobias 
invites all the people of God to join him in fer-* 
vent thanksgiving. 

Ver. S. Give glory to the Lord, ye children of Israel, and 

praise him in the sight of the Gentiles: 4. Because he 

hath therefore scattered you among the Gentiles, who know 
not him, that you may declare his wonderful works, and make 
them know that there is no other Almighty God besides him. 

5. He hath chastised us for our iniquities; and he will 

save us for Ins own mercy 6. See then what he hath 

Y 



322 HOMILIES ON 

done with us, and with fear and trembling give ye glory to 
him : and extol the eternal King of worlds in your works. 

The children of Israel, to whom Tobias him- 
self belonged, and whom he here calls upon to 
unite with him in fervent thanksgiving to the 
Deity, were the chosen people of God. Selected 
by him from among the nations of the earth, they 
had been blessed with the knowledge of him the 
true God, had received a law from his mouth, 
had been guided by his hand, and enjoyed his 
divine favour and protection. But, ungrateful 
for the blessings by which they were thus dis- 
tinguished from other nations, the Israelites pro- 
voked the anger of heaven by repeated crimes 
and rebellions against God, till, in punishment 
of their ingratitude, they were conquered by a 
foreign power, driven from their country, and 
doomed to a long and severe captivity in a 
strange land, among infidels who were plunged 
in the grossest idolatry and superstition. This 
severe punishment of the ungrateful Israelites, 
was a part of the designs of God's mercy towards 
his people. For the scourges of God's justice 
are the chastisements of a tender father, who 
studies the welfare of his children, and in visiting 
them with afflictions, seeks their true happiness. 
Thus, the dispersion of the Israelites among the 
^trous Gentiles, serves, in the order of divine 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 223 

providence, two great and important ends. First, 
it operated as a seasonable correction on the re- 
bellious Israelites, made them sensible of their 
ingratitude, and recalled them to a sense of their 
duty. Secondly, the captivity of the Jewish 
people and their repentance, served to spread 
among the Gentiles the knowledge of the true 
God, by making known to them the greatness 
of his power and the severity of his judgments, 
and thus prepared them for the blessing which 
was afterwards to be poured out upon them in 
their vocation to the Christian Church. 

Entering into these views of divine providence, 
Tobias considers himself, and his brethren in cap- 
tivity, as so many preachers sent to announce, 
tp the idolatrous nations among whom they 
lived, the knowledge of the true God. <f There? 
fore hath he scattered you among the Gentiles, 
who know not him, that you may declare his 
wonderful works, and make them know that 
there is no other Almighty God besides him." 
This holy man exhorts his fellow-captives to ac- 
quit themselves faithfully of this duty, of preach- 
ing the truth by word and work ; to co-operate 
with the designs of God's mercy towards the 
idolatrous nations ; and, by holiness of life, and 
an edifying conversation, to promote the know- 
ledge and the worship of the true God. The 
Apostle, St. Paul, gives the same advice to us 



524 HOMILIES OK 

Christians. We live in the midst of a world 
which calls itself Christian, and professes to know 
and to serve the true God; while it's maxims 
are in direct opposition to the principles of Chris- 
tianity, and the lives of it's deluded followers 
are marked with the same vices that formerly 
disgraced the heathen world before the light of 
Christianity shone upon it. Looking upon our- 
selves, therefore, as captives and exiles in this 
world which knows not God, we are bound, in 
gratitude for the blessing of the true faith and 
knowledge of our duty, to spread around us the 
sweet odour of Christ, by innocence of life and 
sanctity of manners. " Be ye blameless and 
sincere children of God," says St. Paul to the 
Philippians, " without reproof in the midst of a 
crooked and perverse generation: among whom 
you shine as lights to the world." ii. 15. — St. 
Peter, admonishing Christians to consider them- 
selves as strangers and pilgrims in this world, 
thus exhorts them : " Let your conversation be 
good among the Gentiles, that whereas they 
speak against you as evil doers, considering you 
by your good works, they may give glory to 
God in the day of visitation." 

But the captivity of the Jews was designed 
not only for the benefit of the Gentiles, by dif* 
fusing among them the knowledge of the tru«* 
God ; it was to operate as a salutary correction 



THE BOOK OP TOBIAS. 325 

of the stiff-necked and rebellious Israelites : " He 
hath chastised us for our iniquities, and he will 
save us for his own mercy." The same truth 
is applicable to every individual ; the afflictions 
with which God visits us, are at the same time 
the punishment of our past iniquities, and the 
instruments of God's mercy. The humble con- 
fession of this truth, under the trials which befall 
us, the sincere acknowledgment of our own un- 
worthiness in the divine sight, and of the justice 
of God's judgments, will disarm the (livine in- 
dignation, and draw down upon us, even in the 
severest of God's visitations, his mercy and his 
blessing. We behold the greatest of God's ser- 
vants animated by this spirit of humility, and 
faithfully following it's directions. The prophet 
Daniel, and the holy Tobias, though uncon- 
scious of any share in those grievous transgres- 
sions by which their people had drawn upon 
themselves God's severe judgments, yet remem- 
bering that no one is without fault in the sight of 
God, acknowledged themselves sinners, and in a 
spirit of penance, cheerfully submitted to the divine 
appointments. Let us imitate their example ; and 
under ever affliction, whether spiritual or tem- 
poral, fearful lest we should have contributed 
by our sins to draw down the wrath of God, 
Jet us by our bumble submi^i^n to God's will. 

Y3 



L 



326 



HOMILIES ON 



and the sincerity of our repentance, improve the 
visitations of heaven, and make them instruments 
of mercy and salvation. " See and consider," said 
the holy Tobias to his countrymen, " what God 
hath done with us, and with fear and trembling 
give ye glory to him: and extol the eternal 
King of worlds in your works. 



Vet. 7. As for me, I will praise him in the land of my cap- 
tivity ; because he hath shewed his majesty towards a sinful 
nation. 

God, my beloved brethren, is no less adorable 
in his judgments than in his mercies. Whether 
he strikes us, or heals us, he is deserving of our 
praise; for all he does is designed to promote 
our everlasting good. Convinced of his goodness, 
let us ever, under all his dispensations, pay him 
the grateful tribute of our praise and thanks- 
giving. Such was the conduct of Tobias: As 
for me, says this holy man, I will praise God 
in the land of my captivity ; I will kiss his 
adorable hand that strikes me, and I will not 
cease to bless him for his mercy towards my 
sinful and ungrateful countrymen. They have 
abandoned him to serve idols, and hasre trampled 
W law under their feet; but he has chastised 
them, and he has scourged them, that he may 



J 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 327 

bring them to repentance, and may make them 
partakers of his mercy. 

Ver. 8. Be converted, therefore, ye sinners, and do justice before 
God, believing that he will shew his mercy to you. 

Tobias now addresses those among his fellow- 
captives who, insensible either of the divine judg- 
ments or mercies, still remained obstinate in their 
evil ways, and exhorts thern to repentance. Be 
converted, ye sinners ; let the judgments which 
have fallen upon you, awaken you ; renounce 
your iniquities; redeem your past crimes by 
works of justice ; take the scourge of repentance 
into your own hands ; shew the sincerity of your 
conversion by a change of life and conduct ; and 
by fervent prayer, accompanied with the cries of 
a truly contrite and humble heart, seek with con- 
fidence the mercy of God. Neither the multitude 
nor the enormity of your sins can exhaust the 
treasures of his infinite goodness ; but his mercy 
will receive your sighs of repentance, and your 
prayers w T ill find favour in his sight. 



Ycr. 9. And I, and my soul, will rejoice in him 10, Bless 

ye the Lord, all his elect ; keep days of joy, and give glory 
to him. 

After exhorting his sinful countrymen to re- 

Y4 



328 HOMILIES, kc. 

pentance, the holy Tobias invites all the true 
children of Israel to unite with him in praise 
and thanksgiving. He styles the true Israelites, 
the elect of God, because they had been in a 
peculiar manner chosen by God to be his people : 
* Ye shall be my kingdom, a kingdom of priests, 
a holy nation." Exod, xix. 5. But he confines 
not his address to the seed of Abraham ; he ex- 
horts all sinners, in every age, to tremble at the 
sight of God's judgments, and avert his wrath by 
repentance; and he calls upon all the servants 
of God throughout the Christian Church, in each 
succeeding generation, to begin with him here 
upon earth that homage of praise, adoration, and 
thanksgiving, which will form the unceasing oc- 
cupation of the elect in the kingdom of the 
blessed. 



TWENTY-FIFTH HOMILY, 



Chap. XIII. ver. 11. Jerusalem, city of God, the Lord hath 

chastised thee for the works of thy hands. 12. Give 

glory to the Lord for thy good things, and bless the God 
eternal, that he may rebuild his tabernacle in thee, and may 
call back all the captives to thee, and thou mayest rejoice 
for ever and ever. 

Tamils* 

JLobias, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in this 
second part of his canticle, or song of thanks- 
giving, foretells events which were to happen in 
after ages. For the destruction of the city and 
temple of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the 
Jews, who were transported to Babylon, did not 
take place until a hundred years after this period 
of Tobias's history. Yet this holy man speaks 
of those events as if they had already happened, 
because the light which the Holy Spirit com- 
municated to him, rendered them present to his 
mind and clear to his sight. The same circum- 
stance is remarkable in all the prophets. Isaias 
and Jeremy, ages before the birth of the pro- 
mised Saviour, described the principal circum- 
stances of his life and death, with the same clear- 



330 HOMILIES ON 

ness and precision, as if they had been recording 
events of past history. This foreknowledge of 
future events, which God discloses on some oc- 
casions to his chosen servants, is one of the marks 
of his divine interposition, and one of the extra- 
ordinary means by which he makes known his 
truths, and manifests his chosen delegates to the 
world. 

Tobias, in the prophetic vision with which 
he was favoured by the Holy Spirit, foresaw 
that the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which 
still remained in their native country, would, 
like their brethren of the other ten tribes, ex- 
perience the vengeance of God in a long banish- 
ment from Judaea. Unawed by a fear of those 
judgments which had fallen upon their brethren, 
and remaining obstinate in their wickedness, the 
Jews were delivered by Almighty God into the 
hands of Nabuchodonosor, who carried them cap- 
tives to Babylon, in the same manner as Salmanasar 
had treated the ten tribes that formed the king- 
dom of Israel. The severe vengeance which the 
Almighty thus took upon his rebellious people, 
is but a shadow of that dreadful chastisement 
which throughout eternity he will inflict upon 
wilful sinners, in their everlasting banishment 
from the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the 
living God, and the joys that flow from the glo- 
rious presence of Him who reigns within it. 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 331 

Tobias, at the same time that he foresaw the 
destruction of Jerusalem, and the banishment 
of it's inhabitants, was consoled with a view 
of the restoration of the Jewish people, and their 
return to the divine favour and protection. He, 
therefore, exhorts his countrymen to be grateful 
for the divine goodness, and give due praise to 
the Most High for his wonderful mercy. 

" Jerusalem, the Lord hath chastised thee for 
the works of thy hands. Give glory to the 
Lord for thy good things, and bless the God 
eternal, that he may rebuild his tabernacle in 
thee, and may call back all his captives to thee, 
and thou may est rejoice for ever and ever." 

It is not, however, to the mere release of his 
people from captivity, to the rebuilding of the 
temple, or tke^temporal prosperity of the Jews, 
that the prophetic Tobias confines his view. 
Glorious as these events were, and wonderfully 
as they mark the interposing hand of divine 
Providence in favour of his chosen people, yet 
they sink into comparative insignificance, when 
contrasted with the blessings poured out upon 
mankind in the establishment of the Christian 
Church, and the graces diffused over the earth 
by her doctrines and her sacraments, to the end 
of ages. Tobias foresees the day when the 
knowledge of the true God shall no longer be 
confined to an ungrateful, proud, and rebellious 



S32 



HOMILIES ON 



people; when He, to whom his Father hath 
given all the nations of the earth for his inheritance 
the promised Messiah, shall come, to bring back 
the captive children from the slavery of sin and hell, 
and establish upon earth a kingdom that shall 
endure for ever. This kingdom, which is no 
other than the Church of Christ, was to take 
it's rise from Jerusalem, and thence was to spread 
itself over every nation under the sun. Hence 
Tobias addresses the Church under the figurative 
name of Jerusalem. The divine Founder of this 
kingdom likens it to a grain of mustard-seed, 
small and insignificant in it's first appearance, 
but afterwards growing up, and becoming a large 
tree, in which the birds of the air seek refuge 
and repose. The Church, at it's first establish- 
ment, was confined to the narrow limits of 
Jerusalem, but soon spreading it's branches into 
the most distant parts, enclosed the kingdoms 
and people of the earth under it's shade. Nothing 
more clearly bespeaks itself to be the work of 
God, than the establishment and the propagation 
of the Church of Christ. The instruments whom 
it's Founder chose to employ for the accomplish- 
ment of this great work, in all human views 
were the most unlikely to succeed. Twelve 
men, taken from the lowest occupations in life, 
totally unacquainted with human learning, un- 
supported by any earthly power or protection, 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. SSS 

with nothing but disgrace, persecution, and death 
before them as their portion in this world, are 
commissioned to bring mankind to the belief 
that one Jesus, who had been rejected by his 
own people and nailed to a disgraceful cross, was 
no other than the Saviour of the world, and 
that all who refused to believe in him, would 
be eternally excluded from the happiness of £ 
future state. In vain did the great ones of the 
world oppose the preaching of these men; in 
vain did the powers of hell unite with the princes 
of the earth in resisting the progress of the 
Christian faith. The Apostles preached every 
where, the Lord co-operating with them, and 
shewing by the miracles which he enabled them 
to work, that they acted by his authority. The 
prejudices ©£-ages gave way ; and the heathens, 
renouncing their idolatrous superstitions, ran in 
crowds to embrace Christianity ; so that in the 
course of a few years, the spiritual kingdom of 
Christ was established in most parts of the then 
known world. " We are but of yesterday," says 
Tertullian to the Pagans, " and we fill your 
cities, your towns, your armies, your palaces, 
and your houses. 5 ' Thus was the church of 
Christ, the city of God upon earth, miraculously 
established; thus was the light of truth diffused 
over the nations that had hitherto sat in darkness 
and in the shadow of death. The prophetic view, 



$34t HOMILIES ON 

with which Tobias was favoured of this glorious 
event, filled that holy man with raptures of joy, 
and he thus declares it to his fellow-captives : 

Ver. 13. Thou, (Jerusalem, i. e. the Church) shalt shine with 
a glorious light, and all the ends of the earth sliall worship 

thee 14. Nations from afar shall come to thee, and 

bring gifts, and adore the Lord in thee, and esteem thy 
land as holy. ...... 15. For they shall call upon the great 

name in thee. 

The prophet Isaiah, in a noble and sublime 
strain of prophetic eloquence, announces to the 
earth the same blessings, of the light of the 
gospel, and the wonderful propagation of the 
kingdom of Christ. " Arise, Jerusalem, be en- 
lightened, for the glory of the Lord is risen 
upon thee; darkness shall cover the earth, and 
a thick mist the people thereof: but the Lord 
himself shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall 
be seen within thee. And the Gentiles shall 
walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness 
of thy rising. Lift up thy eyes and see; all 
these are gathered together, they are come to 
thee; thy sons shall come from afar, and thy 
daughters shall rise up at thy side. The strength 
of the Gentiles shall come to thee ; all they from 
Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: 
and shewing forth praise to the Lord. The 
islands wait for me, and the ships of the sea, that 



THE BOOK OF f O'BIAS %S5 

I may bring thy sons from afar ; their silver and 
their gold with them, to the name of the Lord 
thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because 
he hath glorified thee. And thou shalt suck the 
milk of the Gentiles, and thou shalt be nursed 
with the breast of kings, and thou shalt know 
that I am the Lord, thy Saviour, and thy Re- 
deemer, the mighty One of Jacob." chap. Ix. 

These magnificent prophecies received their ful- 
filment in the glorious establishment of the 
Christian Church. When the Apostles began 
to announce the doctrines of their Saviour, the 
nations of the earth were buried in the thickest 
darkness : but Jesus Christ, the sun of Justice, 
piercing these obscure clouds with the rays of 
his divine [light, dispelled the mists that covered 
the world, lufit^erilightened the earth with the 
splendour of the New Law, which completely 
eclipsed the brightness of the Old. As soon as 
this divine light shone upon mankind, nations 
ran in crowds to partake of it's splendour ; they 
entered into the city of God, his holy Church, 
revered it as a spot truly holy, brought the most 
magnificent presents to enrich her, offered in her 
their sacrifices to the Most High, and called with 
faith upon his holy name. Enriched with the 
spoils of the Pagan world, the Church, triumph- 
ing over the persecutors that opposed her progress, 
and gaining strength and fruitfulness from the 



33$ HOMILIES OK 

blood of her martyrs, beheld the most distant 
nations reposing under her wings, and tasting 
in her precincts, the rich blessings which her 
heavenly Founder had commissioned her to im- 
part to mankind. 



Ver. 16. They shall be cursed that shall despise thee: an^they 
shall be condemned that shall blaspheme thee : and blessed 

shall they be that shall build thee up 17. But thou 

shalt rejoice in thy children, because they shall all be blessed, 

and shall be gathered together to the Lord 18. Blessed 

are all they that love thee, and that rejoice in thy peace. 

In his kingdom, that is, his Church upon 
earth, our divine Redeemer has assured us, that 
tares will be found mixed with the good corn, 
until he, the heavenly husbandman, shall come 
at the end of the world, and, separating the tares 
from the wheat, shall gather the good grain into 
his barn, but shall burn the tares with unquench- 
able fire. The same awful truths are here de- 
livered by the prophetic Tobias; the curse 'of 
God is denounced against those who, either in 
faith or morals, shew themselves* enemies of the 
Church of God. Woe be to those who blas- 
pheme or speak evil against the true Church of 
Christ, who calumniate her, who misrepresent 
her doctrines, or seduce men from her into the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 337 

by-paths of heresy and schism. But a much 
greater woe, or curse from God, will fall upon 
those ungrateful children of the Church, who, 
though nursed in her bosom, and fed with her 
milk of heavenly doctrine and the most holy 
sacraments, despise her orders, live in the viola- 
tion of her precepts, disgrace her by a wicked 
life, and prejudice others against her doctrine by 
their scandals. The word of God here pro- 
nounces the condemnation of all such scandalous 
and rebellious Christians ; and Jesus Christ declares 
that it shall be more tolerable in the day of judg- 
ment for heathens, who never knew the true 
God, than for such as bear the name of children 
of the Church, but live in disobedience to her 
sacred injunctions. The Church of God mourns 
over t!tes^4*eE__iinhappy children ; their ingrati- 
tude is a subject of deep affliction to her. But 
she is filled with joy and consolation at the holy 
lives and edifying conversation of her faithful 
children, knowing, as Tobias expresses it, that 
they are truly blessed ; blessed upon earth in the 
friendship of her spouse, and destined for eternal 
blessedness, by being gathered together to the 
Lord. This blessing is first promised to those 
who build up the Church, to the Apostles and 
their successors in the sacred ministry, who by 
their preaching, their labours, and sanctity of 
manners, propagate the spiritual kingdom <d 

Z 



338 



HOMILIES ON 



Christ throughout the earth. Such as these will 
receive a double crown ; for, " they who instruct 
others unto justice shall shine like stars for all 
eternity." But the blessing is not confined to 
them ; it extends to all members of the Church, 
who, by a virtuous life and holy example, con- 
tribute to the advancement of this holy and 
spiritual edifice, the Church, and adorn the city 
of God. It is in these her faithful children that 
the Church rejoices; she beholds them united 
in one and the same faith, looking forward with 
hope to the same promised blessing, animated 
with a spirit of charity, walking in the footsteps 
of her divine founder, and directing their lives 
to the glory of their Creator. These form at 
once the joy and consolation of this holy mother, 
the Church ; she loves these her faithful children, 
and in return is loved by them. " Blessed are 
all they that love thee, and that rejoice in thy 
peace." All true children of the Church, sen- 
sible of the blessing which they enjoy in her 
protection, are interested in her prosperity, and 
rejoice in promoting her extension, and in con- 
tributing to her glory. While the children of 
the world, under the influence of ambition and 
earthly glory, devote themselves with eagerness 
to the service of their country, and cheerfully 
sacrifice their ease, their property, and their life, 
to advance it's power and rank among nations ; 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 389 

let it be our glory, as children of the Church, 
to extend her empire among mankind ; let us 
embrace with cheerfulness every opportunity of 
contributing to the advancement of religion, of 
increasing the number of God's servants, and 
promoting the salvation of our fellow-creatures. 

The Church is the city of peace, and they 
who truly love her, rejoice in her peace. This 
peace of the Church will not be perfect until 
her divine spouse shall unite her to himself in 
glory. Here on earth, she is exposed to storms, 
and conflicts, and dangers ; her peace is often 
disturbed by the vices and evil example of some 
of her undutiful children. But in the midst of 
these scenes of danger, she enjoys a foretaste of 
her future peace, in the divine protection, and 
in the vii*«es_-afLthose her faithful children, who 
by their unity of faith, the firmness of their hope, 
and the bonds of charity which unite them, afford 
upon earth an image of her future state of eternal 
peace. Tobias pronounces those blessed, who, by 
their steady adherence to the faith of the Church, 
their humble submission to her laws, and their 
bright virtues, preserve true peace within her 
bosom, and fly with horror from all those divi- 
sions in doctrine, or scandals, that might disturb 
her repose, or violaterher unity. 



340 HOMILIES ON 

Ver. 19. My soul, bless thou the Lord, because the Lord our 
God hath delivered Jerusalem his city from all her troubles. 

20. Happy shall I be if there shall remain of my seed, 

to see the glory of Jerusalem 21. The gates of Jerusalem 

shall be built of sapphire and of emerald, and all the walls 

thereof round about of precious stones 22. All it's 

streets shall be paved with white and clean stones, and Alleluia 

shall be sung in it's streets 23. Blessed be the Lord, who 

hath exalted it, and may he reign over it for ever and ever. 
Amen. 



The holy Tobias, no longer considering the 
Church in her state of trial upon earth, but fa- 
voured with a view of her magnificent glory in 
heaven, is enraptured with joy, and praising God 
for his unbounded goodness, ardently sighs for 
that happy day of eternity, when he and his 
virtuous offspring may be at once witnesses and 
partakers of it's glory. This glory of the Church 
in it's triumphant state, is no other than God 
himself, who is the light, the splendour, and the 
happiness of the heavenly Jerusalem. Under the 
figurative appellation of emeralds and precious 
stones, Tobias designates the elect of God ; who, 
according to their different degrees of sanctity? 
like so many inestimable jewels, shall adorn the 
eternal city of God. Polished upon earth by the 
chisel and the hammer of afflictions, they shall 
be translated to this heavenly edifice, and support 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 341 

and adorn this magnificent structure of God's 
infinite majesty. Into this holy city no unclean 
thing shall enter; all it's streets shall be paved 
with white stones, with spotless innocence, and 
no other song shall be heard, than eternal hymns 
of praise and thanksgiving to God. 

O God, blessed be thou for this immense glory 
which thou hast prepared for thy servants, when 
after their long captivity thou wilt console them 
with the presence of thy glory. Establish in 
our souls, in this our exile, the reign of thy 
grace, that thus we may be prepared to reign 
with thee for ever in the kingdom of thy glory. 
Amen. 



Z3 



TWENTY-SIXTH HOMILY. 



Chap. XI V. ver. 1. And the words of Tobias were ended. And 
after Tobias was restored to his sight, he lived two and forty 

years, and saw the children of his grand-children 

2. And after he had lived a hundred and two years, he was 

buried honourably in Ninive 3. For he was six and fifty 

years old when he lost the sight of his eyes, and sixty when 
he recovered it again. And the rest of his life was in joy, 
and with ^reat increase of the fear of God he departed in 
peace. 

3ftmitil£» 

TT e now, my beloved brethren, draw near to 
the close of the history, which the holy Scriptures 
have recorded, of the virtues of Tobias. After 
having for four years endured the severe affliction 
of blindness with the most admirable patience 
and resignation to the divine will, at the age 
of threescore years he was miraculously restored 
to his sight, in the manner which you have heard 
related. It pleased Almighty God to prolong the 
life of this holy man to a very advanced age, 
that he might present to mankind a pattern of 
virtue in every stage of human existence. His 
declining years were an uninterrupted series of 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 34S 

peace and domestic happiness ; the happy fruit 
of his past fidelity to God, and the care which 
he took of his son in his infancy. The rest of 
his life, says the sacred text, was in joy ; not 
that worldly joy which arises merely from earthly 
considerations, such as riches and temporal pros- 
perity, but a joy springing from a consciousness 
of enjoying the divine favour and protection, ac- 
companied with the sight of a family who made 
it their constant practice to serve God with fide- 
lity, and devote their lives to the end for which 
they had received their being. 

To the end of his life Tobias advanced in the 
fear of God; in that holy filial fear which is 
founded on a love of the Supreme Being above 
every other object, and which carefully abstains 
from every^ thing~that might in the least be con- 
trary to his holy will. This gradual and constant 
advancing towards perfection, is one of the marks 
of the predestinated, and forms a distinguishing 
feature in the character of the truly just man. 
" The path of the just, as a shining light, goeth 
forwards, and increaseth even to perfect day." 
Prov. iv. 18. To aim at this perfection is the 
duty of all ; the very first and the greatest of 
the commandments is, " that we love the Lord 
our God with all our hearts, with air our minds, 
and with all our strength." But the full per- 
fection of this love of our Creator is not attain- 

Z 4 



Hit HOMILIES ON 

able in this life, it is reserved for our future state 
in eternal happiness, when, being purified from 
the dross of earthly affection, all the faculties of 
our soujs will be absorbed in God, and our only 
and never-ending employment will be the con- 
templation and the love of him. During our 
present state of existence, our love is at the best 
but imperfect ; yet it is our duty to desire it's 
complete perfection, and constantly to press for- 
ward towards the attainment of it. This is what 
our divine Redeemer calls, " to hunger and thirst 
after justice ;" and he promises his blessing both 
for time and eternity to those who are faithful 
in fulfilling this duty. " Blessed are they that 
hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be 
filled ; filled with abundance of divine grace in 
this life, to aid their spiritual advancement, and 
crowned with an eternity of blessings in the life 
to come. 

Tobias, at the age of one hundred and two 
years, perceiving that his last hour was come, 
that hour after which he had long been sighing, 
called his family round him, and gave them his 
last advice, as the holy Scripture relates, in the 
following manner : 

Ver. 5. And at the hour of his death, he called unto hira his 
son Tobias, and his children, seven young men, his grandsons, 
and said to them: 6. The destruction of Ninive is at 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 345 

hand : for the word of the Lord must be fulfilled : and our 
brethren, that are scattered abroad from the land of Israel, 

shall return to it 7. And all the land that is desert shall 

be filled with people, and the house of God which is burnt 
in it, shall again be rebuilt : and all that fear God shall re- 
turn thither 8. And the Gentiles shall leave their idols, 

and shall come into Jerusalem, and shall dwell in it 

9. And all the kings of the earth shall rejoice in it, adoring 
the king of Israel 

Tobias, on his death-bed, is favoured by the 
holy Spirit with" a foresight of certain great events 
which, in the order of God's providence, and for 
the execution of the decrees of his infinite justice 
and mercy, were to happen in future times. The 
holy old man imparts the knowledge of these 
important^ eventsjto his family, for their instruc- 
tion, and to confirm them in their fidelity to 
God. He foretells the speedy destruction of 
Ninive, the return of the captive Jews to their 
native land, the rebuilding of the temple, and 
the calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of 
the true God. 

" The destruction of Ninive is at hand, for 
the word of the Lord must be fulfilled." When 
the Ninivites, by their wicked and licentious lives, 
had provoked the anger of God to the highest 
pitch, the prophet Jonas was sent on the part 
of the Almighty to denounce his vengeance 
against them. At the preaching of the prophet, 



346 



HOMILIES OK 



that sinful people humbled themselves in fast- 
ing and penance, and by their repentance ob- 
tained a reversion of the sentence which the 
divine indignation had denounced against them. 
But the mercy of God was soon forgotten, and 
Ninive, in a short time, again sunk into vice and 
licentiousness. God, whose forbearance is with- 
out bounds, with a view to the repentance of 
that sinful people, delayed the execution of his 
threats for the long period of one hundred and 
eighty years after the preaching of Jonas. But 
at length the decree of his justice was executed. 
Nabopalassar, king of Babylon, and Astyages, 
king of the Medes, with their united forces, at- 
tacked Ninive, took it, and levelled it with the 
ground. This event happened about thirty-seven 
years after the death of Tobias. The word of 
God, said that holy man, must be fulfilled. It is 
true, God is sometimes slow in executing his 
vengeance upon sinners, because being rich in 
mercy and patience, he wills not their death, but 
that they should be converted to him and live : 
but unless the sinner, listening to the call of 
divine mercy, averts the indignation of heaven 
by timely repentance, the vengeance of God will 
most assuredly overtake him, with a severity 
proportioned to the mercy that has been abused. 

The second great event which Tobias foretells 
to his family, is the restoration of the captive 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS, 347 

Jews to their native land, and the rebuilding of 
the temple of Jerusalem. " Our brethren that 
are scattered abroad from the land of Israel, shall 
return to it. And the house of God that is 
burnt shall be rebuilt, and all that fear God shall 
return thither." 

This prophecy of Tobias concerning the return 
of the captive Israelites, is to be understood not 
only of the ten tribes who were then actually dis- 
persed over the Assyrian empire; from the cir- 
cumstance which he mentions respecting the tem- 
ple of Jerusalem, (which at the period of his death 
was still standing,) it is clear, that he speaks also 
of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who still 
remained in Judea, but were afterwards transport- 
ed to Babylon, and continued in captivity until 
Cyrus pubhshea-an^exlrct permitting their return 
and the rebuilding of the temple. The Greek 
text expresses this in clear and full terms. The 
edict of Cyrus served as a signal for all those 
among the children of Israel who feared God, 
to reunite in the worship of the true God ac- 
cording to the Mosaic law, and to renew, in his 
temple at Jerusalem, the sacrifices which were 
appointed to be offered to him in that sacred 
place alone. Accordingly we find, that after the 
rebuilding of the temple, the Jews who dwelt 
in the most distant parts of Asia and in Egypt, 
on the principal feasts assembled at Jerusalem 



348 HOMILIES ON 

to assist at the sacrifices of the law. The Acts 
of the Apostles, in the second chapter, mention, 
that at the solemn feast of Pentecost, when the 
Apostles began to announce the doctrines of their 
divine Master, Jews were assembled from all parts 
of the then known world, and were witnesses 
of the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost 
upon the Apostles and first disciples. 

It was soon after this descent of the Holy 
Spirit, that the last great event, predicted by 
Tobias, the calling of the Gentiles or Heathen 
nations to the true faith and Church of Christ, 
began to receive it's accomplishment. " The 
Gentiles shall leave their idols, and shall come 
into Jerusalem, and shall dwell in it. And all 
the kings of the earth shall rejoice in it, adoring 
the king of Israel." 

Under the figurative name of Jerusalem, the 
prophetic Tobias again marks out the Church of 
Christ, and foretells it's miraculous establishment 
and propagation. It is evident that the city and 
temple of which this holy man here speaks, are 
the same as in the preceding chapter ; this city, 
into which the nations of the earth were to 
assemble in crowds after renouncing their super- 
stitions, and this temple, in which nations and 
kings were to adore God, could be no other than 
the Church of Christ, the city and the temple 
of the living God. For the Jewish city of 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 349 

Jerusalem, in the Old Law, never witnessed any 
extraordinary assemblage of converted Pagans, 
nor did the kings of the earth come to her re- 
joicing, to adore the king of Israel in her. On 
the contrary, Jerusalem, the city of the Jews, 
suffered the greatest of evils and persecutions 
from the heathen kings who surrounded her, 
and who, after several times profaning her temple 
and plundering her inhabitants, destroyed her, 
and burnt the temple to ashes. It was the 
Christian Church, often prefigured in holy writ 
under the title of Jerusalem, which beheld the 
heathen nations bringing to her the spoils of 
their false gods, taking up their abode in her 
sanctuary, and adorning her by the most perfect 
practice of the sublime virtues taught by her 
Foundei\j53ter~tmW-centuries of persecution, 
the Church at length had the happiness to see 
the emperors and kings of the earth enrol them- 
selves with joy among her children, adore as their 
God and King, Jesus Christ, whom the Jews 
had refused to acknowledge as king of Israel ; 
and esteeming the cross, which had hitherto 
been a badge of infamy, as an ornament far 
surpassing the brightest jewels that adorned their 
crowns. 

The virtuous and aged Tobias, having thus 
comforted his weeping family, by unfolding to 
them the wonders of God's mercy reserved for 



350 HOMILIES ON 

future ages, gives them his last exhortation to 
virtue in these words : 

Ver. 10. Hearken, therefore, my children, to your father; serve 
the Lord in truth, and seek to do the things that please 

him: 11. And command all your children that they 

do justice and alms-deeds, and that they be mindful of 
God, and bless him at all times in truth, and with all their 

power 12. And now, children, hear me, and do not 

stay here : but as soon as you shall bury your mother by 
me in one sepulchre, without delay direct your steps to 

depart hence ; 13. For I see that it's iniquity will bring 

it to destruction. 

In this admirable exhortation of a dying pa- 
rent to his affectionate family, what truly ex- 
cellent lessons _£jf__piety are presented to our 
view! This short discourse is an abridgment 
of those exhortations and lessons which Tobias 
delivered to his son on a former occasion, when 
he apprehended, in consequence of his blindness,, 
that his end was drawing near. We witness 
in this dying Saint, no anxiety about temporal 
affairs ; we hear from his lips nothing about the 
riches of this earth, or those objects upon which 
worldlings set their hearts : but we behold 
a faithful servant of God bequeathing to his 
children a rich legacy of virtues ; a treasure far 
surpassing all the empty honours, transitory 
wealth, and boasted titles, of a vain world. He 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 351 

exhorts his family to direct every action to the 
glory of their Creator ; to consider him present 
in all their ways; to pay him faithfully the 
homage of prayer and sacrifice due to him ; to 
bless him at all times, both in prosperity and 
adversity ; to rejoice in the accomplishment of his 
divine will, ever just, ever holy, ever lovely ; in 
fine, to serve God in truth, by the diligent obser- 
vance of all his commandments, and not suffer 
their fives to give the He to their professions; 
but, while they profess to know and adore the 
true God, to manifest to the world the holiness 
and the truth of their religion, by a virtuous 
life and edifying conversation. Xext to these 
duties, which are branches of the love of God, 
Tobias turns to the obligations of fraternal charity, 
and exfaorfefr. fog fgiuij^iiaithfully to fulfil them ; 
to satisfy both justice and charity, and, more 
especially, to cherish in their hearts a tender 
compassion for their distressed fellow -creatures, 
and be ever ready to relieve and assist them in 
all their wants, both corporal and spiritual. 
Lastly, he gives directions for his own decent 
burial ; and, to shew his unalterable and inviolate 
affection for his wife, requests that she may be 
buried in the same grave with himself. Then, 
foreseeing that the death of his wife would be 
speedily followed by the destruction of the wicked 
city of Ninive, he exhorts his family to leave that 






352 



HOMILIES ON 



hardened people, lest they also should be in- 
volved in the same ruin. Would to God that 
Christian parents, like this holy man, were ever 
careful to separate their tender offspring from 
the corruption of a wicked world ! — So great is 
this corruption, so pernicious are it's effects, that 
thousands of young persons owe their eternal 
destruction to no other cause. The only method 
of securing the innocence and virtue of children, 
is, for parents to forewarn their tender offspring 
against the society of those who may endanger 
their morals, and never suffer them to form a 
connection that may taint their minds with the 

infection of vice, 
u 

__.ie lessons of the virtuous Tobias ; his exhor- 
tations, and his advice and directions, were faith- 
fully followed in every point by his son and his 
grandsons. 



Ver. 14. And it came to pass, that, after the death of his mother, 
Tobias departed out of Ninive with his wife and children, 
and children's children, and returned to his father and 

mother-in-law 15. And he found them in health, in 

a good old age : and he took care of them, and he closed 
their eyes ; and all the inheritance of Raguel's house came 
to him; and he saw his children's children to the fifth 

o-eneration 16. And after he had lived ninety-nine years 

in the fear of the Lord, with joy, they buried him 

17. And all his kindred, and all his generation, continued 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 253 

in good life, and in holy conversation, so that they were 
acceptable both to God and to men, and to all that dwelt 
in the land. 

Retaining in his manhood the humble prin- 
ciples of docility and obedience which had guided 
his youth, the young Tobias fulfilled all his 
father's directions, and leaving Ninive, went with 
his wife and family to the house of Raguel his 
father-in-law. There, by his affectionate behaviour 
and dutiful attention, he consoled the declining 
years of his wife's parents, and, according to the 
promise which Raguel had made at their death, 
received the remainder of their property , -His 
children, inheriting his virtues, persevered in a 
good < life and holy conversation, and were so 
eminent for their holiness of life, that they were 
universally beloved both by God and man. Thus 
did the fidelity of the elder Tobias, in discharging 
the duties of a parent, produce at once it's fruits 
and it's crown. The piety of this holy family 
of faithful servants of God was the fruit of the 
instructions, the prayers, and virtuous example 
of him who was the head and the chief of this 
race of Saints. The elder Tobias beheld his 
son and his grandsons faithfully walking in the 
path which he had traced for them, and, in their 
virtues, reaped even upon earth the fruits of 
his pious labours. In the mansions of the blessed 

Aa 



S54* HOMILIES, &C. 

be now enjoys the full recompense of his care, 
and the souls thus sanctified by his lessons 
and example are so many jewels added to his 
crown of glory. Virtue is not an inheritance that 
descends by blood ; it is a pure gift of God's 
bounty. Yet God generally rewards the care 
of virtuous parents, by blessing them with a train 
of virtuous children; that, by these examples, 
fathers and mothers may be encouraged to dis- 
charge with fidelity the obligations of their state, 
and spare no labours to bring up their tender 
offspring in the fear of God, to watch over 
the conduct of their children and servants, and, 
by word and example, conduct them in the path 
that will lead them to an inseparable union in 
the kingdom of heaven. 



TWENTY-SEVENTH HOMILY. 



Cliap. XIV. ver. 4. And the rest of his life was in joy; and with 
great increase of the fear of God, he departed in peace, 

Ihe holy Scripture represents the death of the 
servants of God under the pleasing image of a 
sweet repose. " He slept in the Lord," is the 
phrase in which the Holy Spirit expresses the 
happy departure of the just man from this vale of 
tears and misery to the eternal recompense of his 
labours. Of Tobias, in particular, the word of 
God testifies, that the last stage of his mortal 
existence was a continued scene of inward joy 
and spiritual consolation, the fruits of his past 
fidelity to God, and the prelude to a happy 
death. In nearly the same terms does the holy 
Scripture speak of his son, the faithful imitator 
of his father's virtues, who, after ninety-nine years 
spent in the service of God, died the death of 
the just. Having then, my beloved brethren, 
laid before you, for your instruction and en- 
couragement in the path of virtue, the edifying 
example of these holy men during their lives, 
I cannot close these Discourses more properly, 

Aa2 



356 HOMILIES ON 

than by a few reflections on the happiness anti 
the consolations which attend the death of the 
just. In detailing these consolations to you, I 
wish to impress upon your minds how far su- 
perior the situation of the servants of God under 
the New Law is to that of the ancient Saints ; 
how many sources of consolation religion now 
holds out to her faithful followers, to which the 
Patriarchs and Prophets of old were strangers. 
Besides, however exemplary their lives were, 
however heroic their virtue miglrt be, the full- 
recompense of their sanctity was to them placed 
at a great distance, and death did not open to 
them an immediate admission into the kingdom 
of the blessed. But since the Redeemer of man- 
kind has, by his blood, purchased for us again 
the inheritance which the disobedience of Adam 
had forfeited, innocence of life, and sanctity of 
manners, are no longer debarred from their pro- 
mised reward of bliss ; but the souls of the just 
servants of God are, in the moment of their 
departure from this vale of tears, admitted to the 
sight and enjoyment of their God, in the kingdom 
of Ins glory. 

" Precious, in the sight of the Lord, is the 
death of his Saints." Psalm cxv. 5. — " The Lord 
helps them on the bed of their sorrow, he turns 
all their couch for them in their sickness." 
Psalm xl. 4. To this, we, the ministers of God, 



THE BOOK Otf TOBIAS. 357 

can bear testimony. Called by the duties of our 
holy office to a frequent attendance upon the 
bed of death, we are but too often forced to be 
the melancholy spectators of the heart-rending 
scene which closes the eyes of the dying sinner. 
But the same holy office sometimes animates 
our zeal, and consoles our labours, by making 
us witnesses and partakers of the joy that at- 
tends the death of the just. Oh! transport your- 
selves, my beloved brethren, to the bed of the 
dying Saint, while, for your encouragement in 
tlie path of virtue, I point out to you those 
sweet sources of consolation which diffuse them- 
selves over the soul of the truly just man in the 
last scene of his mortal life. 

It is the misfortune of the generality of men, 
that during life and health thev seldom or never 
make their last hour the subject of their serious 
reflections. Fixing their hearts upon the riches, 
the advantages, and the pleasures of this world, 
they employ all the faculties and powers of their 
souls and bodies in labouring for the attainment 
of earthly emoluments. Their whole time is 
spent in the pursuit of temporal concerns. Eter- 
nity is seldom or never thought of; it's everlast- 
ing happiness, and it's endless torments, are alike 
disregarded. Sometimes, indeed, the thoughts of 
death and judgment will force themselves upon 
their minds, and excite sensations of alarm and 

Aa3 



35$ HOMILIES ON 

terror ; and happy would it be for them, if, in- 
stead of endeavouring to divert these alarms and 
fears, they would inquire into the cause of them, 
and give them a few moment's serious reflection ! 
But no; worldlings, having fixed their hearts 
upon this life and it's enjoyments, cannot bear 
the thoughts of death ; they startle at the very 
idea of it, because they know that it will tear 
them from those scenes, to leave which is a 
subject of the deepest regret to them ; and be- 
cause the moment of their death will bring 
them before the tribunal of that God whose 
service they have neglected, whose promises they 
have despised, whose judgments they have dis- 
regarded, and from whom they can expect 
nothing but a sentence of condemnation to 
eternal misery. This it is that renders death 
terrible to the generality of men ; to the worldling 
no less than to the notorious sinner. 

But, what hold can these subjects of alarm 
have upon the soul of the just man? Does 
jhe either feel regret at the thought of leaving 
this world, or is he struck with terror at the 
near prospect of eternity? — No, my beloved 
brethren, whichsoeTer way the just man turns 
his thoughts, whether to the past or to the 
future, he meets with an abundant source of 
peace, joy, and heavenly consolation. During 
life, living by faith, and building his hopes and 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 359 

expectations on the promises made by God 
to his elect, he fixes his heart on the eternal joys 
of heaven. In death he quits indeed the world : 
but the world he has ever considered in ifs 
true light, as an enemy to his eternal happi- 
ness. It's maxims he has carefully avoided ; it's 
delusive pleasures he has never suffered to make 
an undue impression upon his soul: in short, 
he has kept his heart and affections disengaged 
from the world, and has learned to die daily to 
it To be finally separated from it cannot, 
therefore, give him much regret or uneasiness. 

But in quitting the world, the just man is 
torn from his possessions and his friends; — is 
not this at least a subject of sorrow and trouble 
to his mind? Oh! no. Of his temporal goods 
the just man, during life, considers God as the 
sole master, himself as the steward; he uses 
them, according to the advice of St. Paul, as 
though he used them not, (1 Cor. vii. 30) ; he 
employs them in acts of mercy and charity to his 
fellow- creatures ; he lives in the disposition of 
being willing to part with them when God shall 
please to call him from them : hence, at the hour 
of death, he parts from them with cheerful resigna- 
tion to the will of heaven.— To leave his friends 
and relations is, indeed, a more trying sacrifice. 
The ties of affection which bind him to them, 
he has neither been able nor willing entirely 

Aa4 



560 



HOMILIES OX 



to break; but then he has regulated them by 
the maxims of the divine law. He has loved 
his friends in God and for God, with a due 
regard to his own and their eternal happiness. 
In death he arms himself against the feelings 
of nature, by the sentiments of a most perfect 
submission to the will of God. If he behold 
his friends, his wife, his children, or acquaintance, 
weeping round him, he addresses them in terms 
similar to those in which his divine Redeemer 
consoled his afflicted Apostles, when he told 
them that he was going to prepare a place for 
them, that where he was they also might be. 
After a few more years, says the just man 
to his weeping friends, after a few more years 
spent faithfully by you in the service of your 
Creator, we shall again meet in unchangeable 
and never-ending bliss. — Thus does the just man 
part from all that is most dear to him : thus 
does he quit this life; a life which he has 
ever regarded in it's true light, as a passage to 
eternity. 

Having employed the few short years of his 
mortal existence in the faithful discharge of his 
duty, when he finds himself drawing near to 
the crown of his labours, he welcomes with joy 
the happy moment of his dissolution, makes a 
willing sacrifice of his expiring breath, and cries 
out with his dying Redeemer, " Father, into 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 361 

rhy hands I commend my spirit." Does the 
devil attempt to disturb the peace of his soul, 
by bringing to his recollection the faults and 
imperfections of his past life ? These he has 
long been labouring to expiate by the exercise 
of daily penance, by humble prayer, by patience 
in sickness and affliction, by frequent confession 
and communion in a spirit of love and repen- 
tance, by assisting with devotion at the holy 
sacrifice of the altar, and by charity to the poor. 
Does the tempter endeavour to seduce him, by 
instilling into his mind thoughts of pride or 
vanity ? He fights the enemy with the same 
weapons with which he has always vanquished 
him — humility and prayer. Sensible of his own 
nothingness and unworthiness, he flies for refuge 
to the wounds of his dying Saviour, to be washed 
in them from every defilement of sin, and fitted 
for his admission into the blessed abode of in- 
nocence and peace. Thus, with regard to the 
just man, death is truly without a sting : the 
thoughts of quitting the world and it's enjoy- 
ments bring no cause for regret or uneasiness 
to the dying Saint. 

But is not he uneasy or alarmed at the near 
prospect of that eternity into which he is enter- 
jug ? My beloved brethren, have you ever be- 
held the countenance of a prisoner, when after 
a long confinement in a lonesome dungeon he 



36& HOMILIES ON 

is restored to his liberty? Have you seen the 
sailor, after being tossed for months upon the 
boisterous ocean, entering the long wished-for har- 
bour, and landing on his native shore? Have 
you beheld the soldier, after many years of sepa- 
ration from his kindred and friends, at length 
escaping from the fatigues and dangers of war, 
and returning home to repose in the bosom of 
his family ? Was fear, or disquiet, or uneasiness, 
visible in the countenance of any one of these ? 
Were they not all joy? Did they not seem 
transported with gladness? — Yet, all their joy 
was but a faint image of that sweet tranquillity 
of mind, that triumphant joy and exultation 
which fill the soul, and often display themselves 
in the countenance of the just man at the near 
prospect of eternity. He beholds himself at the 
term of his labours and his conflicts ; he reflects 
with pleasure on the storms and perils from which 
he has escaped, in sailing through the troubled 
ocean of this life; his soul contemplates with 
joy the happy moment which is to release it 
from it's long confinement in the prison of the 
body, and call it to an eternal repose in the 
bosom of it's Father and it's God. He hears 
the beloved of his soul, his divine Redeemer, 
address him in the language of the heavenly 
spouse : " the winter is now past, the storm is 
over and gone, arise, my beloved, and come." 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 363 

Cant. ii. 10. He answers the sweet invitation in 
the words of the Psalmist : Psalm cxxi. i. " I 
rejoice at the things that are said to me, we shall 
go into the house of the Lord." — Psalm Ixxxiii. 
" Blessed are they who dwell in thy house, O 
Lord, they shall praise thee for ever and ever. 55 

But, is not God infinite in his justice, no less 
than in his mercy ? Is not sin the object of his 
infinite and eternal hatred? Has the just man 
never during his life incurred the displeasure of 
his God, or provoked his justice by sin ? Has 
he no alarm or uneasiness on this account? — 
No, my beloved brethren, all this serves indeed 
to keep him from that false security, that fatal 
presumption, which is the ruin of thousands. It 
fills him with a proper degree of that humble 
Christian fear which is ever united with a strong: 
confidence in God. The just man knows, from 
divine faith, that during this life no man, how- 
ever virtuous, can be fully certain that he is 
just in the sight of God. " Man," says the Holy 
Ghost, " knoweth not whether he be worthy of 
love or hatred." Eccles. ix. 1. But the just man 
feels within himself a strong and lively hope, 
that as he has daily laboured to walk with fidelity 
in the path of God's commandments, and to 
blot out his faults by tears of true repentance, 
the merits of the passion and death of his Saviour 
have sealed his pardon, and secured him a place 



£ti4 HOMILIES ON 

hi the divine favour. The nearer he approaches 
to the hour of his death, the more abundant are 
his tears ; the more heartily does he detest his 
sins, the more fervent are his supplications for 
mercy. The priest, the minister of reconciliation 
and peace, and dispenser of the mysteries of God, 
enters the chamber of the dying Saint, and pre- 
sents to him the image of his crucified Saviour. 
With what ardour does he press it to his lips ! 
how lovingly does he embrace it! With what 
humility and compunction does he confess to his 
spiritual physician the frailties and imperfections 
of his past life ! And when the minister of God 
pronounces in his- favour the sacred sentence of 
absolution, what faith, what hope, what humble 
contrition is painted in the countenance of the 
dying Saint ! 

But who can express the raptures of love and 
joy which fill his soul, when the priest presents 
to him the victim of his redemption, and the 
pledge of his salvation — the body and blood of 
his dearest Saviour? O, my Redeemer, he cries 
out, now that thou givest me thyself, one thing 
will I ask of thee, this will I beg of thee, that 
I may dwell in thy house for ever, and that I 
may sing thy praises for endless ages ! — Strength- 
ened with this divine food, how fervently does 
he unite his prayers with those which the minis- 
ter of God pours forth, while he administers the 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 365 

sacrament of Extreme Unction, the last anointing, 
by which his work of repentance is consummated,. 
his preparation for death is made perfect, and his 
passage into eternity is rendered safe and secure I 
Thus armed, what has he to fear ? The infernal 
spirit can have no power over him; God who 
has adopted him for his child, is his comforter 
and protector; Jesus Christ has taken up his 
abode in him ; the Holy Ghost dwells in him 
as in his temple, and the Angels of God encamp 
round about him. 

At length, however, the moment of his final 
sacrifice arrives, and the agonies of death seize 
upon him. He summons all his strength to pro- 
nounce once more with ardent love the sacred 
name of Jesus, gives one more longing look for 
immortalityrandr^expifes; Thus does the just 
man die ; or rather, thus does he triumph over 
death, thus does he begin to live eternally. His 
guardian Angel, who had received his expiring 
breath, conducts his soul to the happy company 
of the Saints, where he beholds his God face to 
face, is inebriated with a torrent of delights, is 
instantly and eternally happy. Oh ! who will 
not cry out with Balaam, " Let my soul die the 
death of the just, and my last end be like unto 
theirs." Num. xxiii. 10. 

My beloved brethren, to die the death of the 
just, you must first live the life of the just. 



366 HOMILIES ON 

Death is terrible to none but the wicked and the 
lovers of this world. Disengage then your hearts 
from the world and it's sinful follies, and fix 
them upon eternity. Let it be your chief and 
greatest concern to labour in earnest for the sal- 
vation of your souls. Fly from sin and the 
company of sinners. Place the hour of your 
death daily before your eyes, and meditate on 
the consolations which attend the death of the 
just. Do penance every day for past faults ; the 
rich, by acts of charity to the distressed, and 
by the mortification of yourselves in point of 
dress, company, and amusement; the poor, by 
performing your daily labour in a spirit of pe- 
nance, offering it up to God, and doing it be- 
cause it is his will Be regular and fervent in 
the duty of prayer, each morning and evening ; 
assist often with respect and devotion at the holy 
sacrifice of the altar, and unite the sacrifice of 
your life and death with that of your Saviour. 
By frequent confession, purify your souls from the 
stains of sin ; and by often approaching to the 
holy communion, secure to yourselves those trea- 
sures of grace which Jesus has left you in the 
sacrament of his body and blood. Whilst you 
have time, dp good to all men, practising towards 
all in distress the works of mercy, corporal and 
spiritual. Be honest and just in all your dealings. 
Faithfully discharge yotir respective duties, ass 



THE BOOK OF TOBIAS. 367 

husbands or wives, parents or children, masters 
or servants. Walk always in the presence of 
God, and direct all your actions to his glory. 
Beg daily the intercession of our blessed Lady 
for the grace of a happy death, addressing to 
her that humble supplication of the Church of 
God, " Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us 
sinners now and in the hour of our death, Amen." 
Let these, and the like exercises of piety, be the 
daily practice of your lives; thus, my beloved 
brethren, you will live the life of the just, thus 
will you have a well-grounded hope that you will 
die the death of the just, and with the just 
reign for ever in the kingdom of your Father. 



THE END. 



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